A Werewolf in Sheeps clothing
by BoxinShrimp
Summary: Fed up with being the lonely and weird "Bog Boy" in Mistral, Jaune Arc has run away from his home to become a Huntsman at Beacon Academy. Yet he lives under constant fear of his families cursed werewolf bloodline. Jaune must keep his cursed life in balance while also trying to figure out why his canine instincts keep screaming that Blake Belladonna girl is nothing but trouble...
1. Prologue - Into the dark night

It had been a quiet night in the bogs of Mistral. And what started out as a quick trip into town before the coming night turned into one that would forever change Jaune Arcs life. The young five year old had been walking with his father down the old beaten roads to their house, his arms wrapped firmly around his fathers waist. The children in town had started picking on him while his father had gone into the store, calling him Bog Boy as they threw stones at him. Jaune never understood why the people in town seemed to treat him with such hostility, while his father was treated as a paragon. But it was something that he had always looked up to, to be treated like a real person.

One day he would be like that. But for now, he was fairly content with living on his families farm, raising the livestock and helping with the manual labor. The hard work had already begun to show its merits, as the young child was able to easily fight off any bullies that tried to grapple with him up close. But no amount of manual labor could ever prepare him for the sudden anguish that had ripped through his small, fragile body. It happened when the clouds in the sky moved, revealing an almost full moon hanging low. It was then that he collapsed onto the ground.

"AAGH! DAD!"

Josiah glanced down at his screaming child, the boy thrashing and convulsing wildly on the soft, damp ground as bulges appeared and vanished in his skin at random intervals. He knelt down beside the child and gazed at him with his glowing, ghostly blue eyes. It was hard to watch, but yet he knew that if he were to turn away it would only frighten his child more.

"DAD! IT HURTS!"

Josiah nodded in response. "I know, pup. But just hold on. It should be over soon." He knew though that this would only be the first of many transformations. He wished that this would have happened of the boys own choice, but the moon is a fickle mistress. And for him to develop like this at such a young age, it was mostly unheard of in their society. Josiah noticed that the bulging had stopped, the childs skeleton having finished its first transformation. He watched in silence as the next part began. It started with his sons hair, the beautiful yet scraggly tuft of blonde hair turning a darker shade of brown. And so too was the hair that began to sprout across the young boys body, engulfing his pale skin in a forest of fur. "You're almost there, pup." He encouraged, knowing that it would give the child a boost in morale.

The boy curled into a ball, a symphony of sickening cracks rang out from all over his body to compliment the unspeakable pain that accompanied them. Josiah couldn't help but feel guilty over what was happening, even if it was an inherited curse. The cries of his child died down, however. And the quiet sniffles that he had heard a steady stream of went silent. Josiah felt his body moving of its own accord, his hand reaching out to grasp the childs shoulder. "You alright, pup?" He found that he would get no response, the childs body growing still. "Jaune?"

The next thing Josiah remembered was feeling the sensation of teeth ripping into his arm as he blocked the attack. The man pushed the creature off of him, the monster dropping to the floor with a yelp that sounded as if a puppy had been kicked. Josiah and the creature stared at each other for a moment before the beast snarled and threw itself at him once more. A simple sidestep was all it took to dodge the creatures lunge, but Josiah knew that he would need to match his sons form if he were to keep the beast that he was calm.

Josiah took a deep breath before he forced the transformation upon himself. The pain was brief, but strong as he felt his entire body contort and stretch, seemingly at the same time. His skin tingled as his brown fur burst from his skin, and his breathing became rasped as he felt his mouth begin to jut forward. The entire process took only a few seconds at the most, but it was one that could never be dulled or forgotten. Josiah the Huntsman no longer stood in the bog, but instead a new creature took his place. One that matched his size and frame, but was vastly different. The head of a wolf was adorned between the mans shoulders, his body still mostly that of a humans. Thick brown fur blanketed his skin, and pushed itself out of the clothing that the creature wore. Its long, muscled and furry arms ended in clawed hands that looked as if they could rake flesh with ease. The beast stepped forward, its long and equally muscled legs contorting into a canine's build before ending in pawed feet.

The smaller beast turned and snarled before it caught sight of one of it's own kin. A much larger and stronger looking beast that made the smaller one whimper and cower. Both beasts gazed into each others eyes and acknowledged that they were in the presence of another Werewolf.

Josiah snarled at his son, causing the smaller wolf to let out another whine as he fell in line with his father. The larger wolfman bent over to pick up the bags of groceries that had been dropped, securing them firmly within his clawed hands as the smaller wolf began to run circles around him. Josiah glanced up at the moon for a brief moment and snarled, it was not time yet, but it would be soon. They would need to make haste. With another growl, Jaune returned to his father's side and the two of them began their march back to their home, where they would be able to manage each other before the moon reached its full glory. Tonight was a night where even the most seasoned and wise Arc would lose his wits to the beast that lurked within.

For tonight, was a full moon.

* * *

Jaune's eyes slowly opened, his mind foggy and numb from the night before. His entire body ached, though as his woke up he wasn't sure if that was from the hard wooden floor he was sleeping on or what had happened to him last night. As he slowly pushed himself to his feet, he glanced around the room he was currently in. It wasn't his bedroom, and it certainly wasn't any part of the house that he knew of. The room was fairly small, and the walls were made out of what looked like very hard metal. The door itself was metal as well, with slabs of previously used metal bolted all over it. Claw marks riddled the door and the surrounding walls and were also present on the floor in certain spots.

A yawn broke his concentration as he heard his mother climbing to her feet. "Good morning, Jaune. I see you slept like a rock!" His mother spoke as she nudged the person lying next to her. "Wake up, Josiah. Our sons going to need an explanation on what happened." The collapsed form of Jaune's father let out a grunt before rolling away from his wife, which did not go over well with the woman of the house. "Josiah Arc, do NOT make me repeat myself."

Jaune watched as his father let out another grunt before he pushed himself to his feet and stretched. "Alright, alright. Jaune, meet me upstairs on the patio in five." His father ordered before he procured a key from under the nearby floorboard. Jaune watched his father step over to the door and unlock it with a click, the door letting out a loud rattle as it was opened. Jaune watched his father ascend the stairs without muttering a sound, afraid of what he might have possibly done wrong that would require the dreaded "patio talk." He jumped a little when he felt his mothers hand ruffle his hair as she walked passed him and towards the stairs herself. She turned her head back to him and gave him a reassuring smile. "Breakfast will be waiting for you two when you're done." She said before she turned and climbed the stairs.

The front door opened with a loud creak as Jaune stepped out onto the patio. He gulped nervously as he stared at his father, who was smoking out of his bone pipe while on their wooden bench. That pipe was always an important one to his dad, yet he never understood why. As he was staring from the doorway, he was startled when his fathers eyes turned and met his. With a heavy sigh, his father took the pipe out of his mouth and blew a puff of smoke out before beckoning him over. "Alright pup, sit with me." he said as he pat the bench next to him.

Jaune slowly made his way towards the bench before he hopped up onto it, adjusting himself a bit before he finally got comfortable. He flinched when he felt his fathers arm wrap itself around his body and pull the two closer together. The two of them sat in silence for a moment before his fathers voice broke it.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, Jaune. And I'm going to try and give you some answers." Josiah took another puff of his pipe before setting it down on the nearby table. "What happened last night... well, I'm sure by now you know that we aren't an ordinary family, Jaune." He blew the remaining smoke out of his mouth. "See, there's something special about us. It's... a good kind of special, but it can be a bad kind of special, too." Josiah watched as his child looked on in confusion. He chuckled to himself before continuing on. "See, Jaune. We're not normal people. We have this... ability, as it were, to turn into something that isn't human."

Jaune's eyes lit up as he listened to his father. "You mean we can shape-shift?! Is that our family semblance?"

Josiah let out a hearty laugh as he pat his sons shoulder. "Haha! No, Jaune. Our ability doesn't stem from the soul, it stems from our blood. We have the blood of the wolf, pup."

Jaune glanced down at his arm, looking at his wrists in particular. He folded his hand down, making the veins in his arms bulge into vision. "We have dog blood?"

Again, Josiah let out a laugh. "Sort of, Jaune. It's got many names. Dog, Wolf, Werewolf, Lycan, Worgen. It's all the same thing, really. We can turn into something that isn't quite all man, but it isn't all beast either."

"Is that what happened to me last night, papa?"

"Yeah." Josiah scratched his nose as he glanced out into the bog. "That's what happened to you. The wolf usually doesn't come out until you reach the age of ten, but yours came a couple years early. Y'see, normally we can keep the wolf hidden with a little training. We're taught how to do that early because we have to."

"Why do we have to keep the wolf hidden?"

"Because people fear the wolf, Jaune. So we keep the wolf hidden away, so people don't try to hurt him." He watched his son nod before he continued. "But, there's something that MAKES him come out, even if we don't want him to. Something that gives him control of our body, even if we want it all for ourselves." Josiah glanced up towards the patio's ceiling. "When the moon is full, he takes control. That's what my dad always used to tell me."

Jaune followed his fathers gaze, noting that the patio ceiling was looking particularly old and rundown. They would probably replace the planks soon. "Is that what happened last night? Did it happen to you and mama, too?"

Josiah nodded. "It did. And that's why we all woke up in that cellar. That's our cage for the night."

"...Why don't we keep the wolf locked up forever then?" Jaune asked as his blue eyes dimmed. The question felt wrong, but he had to ask it. "Why don't we keep him away from everyone so he doesn't hurt anyone?"

"Because, pup. You can't do that to him." Josiah sighed. "He's a part of you. And if you treat him like an animal, keep him locked up like one, he'll get out one day." He turned to his son and gripped him by both shoulders. "And when he breaks outta his cage, he'll ruin everything you ever loved." He watched as his sons eyes grew wide in fear. He didn't like scaring his child, but in this situation it had to be done. "But it's okay, Jaune. You've got your old man here to help you learn how to tame the wolf."

Jaune's eyes lit up again as he grabbed onto his fathers arm. "You're gonna teach me how to control him?!"

"Hehe, yep." Josiah chuckled as he ruffled his sons hair. "You'll be able to turn into a werewolf whenever you want. Course, you'll never need to. But it's best to teach you how to reign him in so he doesn't get out of control."

"Wow! I get to be a werewolf!" Jaune could barely contain his excitement. He was going to learn how to be part man, part wolfman! "I bet when I learn to be a huntsman, I can use my wolf instincts to-"

"We've been over this, pup." Josiah sighed. "You're not going to be a huntsman. You're going to stay here with us, and learn to live off the land."

Jaune slumped over a bit. "But papa... you were a huntsman! You used Croaky Mores to kill that crocodile last week!"

"That was in self defense, pup. And I don't do anything relating to huntsman jobs anymore. And I never will."

"But papa, I wanna go out into the world and help people like you used to do! I wanna meet new friends, too! Nobody in town likes me, they just call me the weird boy from the bog! But they all like you! I want to be like you, to be liked by everyone!"

Josiah grit his teeth in frustration. "I know, pup. But one day you'll understand that this life is better for you. The outside world isn't a place for us. And in time, the people in town will come to like you as they do me." Josiah's nose picked up the scent of Maribelle's cooking, a welcome distraction from the conversation at hand. "Smells like your moms got breakfast ready. How about we go get some, huh?"

Josiah watched as Jaune's eyes lit up, the boy hopping off the bench and running into the house as fast as he could. Josiah couldn't help but laugh once again as he followed his son into the house. Breakfast would do their bodies and minds good after a night of going crazy in a cage. And then it was off into the bog to teach Jaune how to stretch his legs. He paused for a moment as he remembered his sons cries of anguish, the transformation being a painful one. He would learn to get used to the pain. While it never truly went away, it became dulled to the point of being a mild irritation at best. He would get used to it.

He would need to get used to it if he ever wanted to live a quiet and safe life out here.

* * *

Jaune let out a grunt as he slashed Crocea Mors at the tree, the metal sword bouncing off of the trunk with a clang. It wasn't the best kind of training, but it at least allowed him to practice the forms and techniques written in his book. He glanced down at the open book again and scanned the next move properly. With a nod, his muscles tightened and he moved in for the next strike, stabbing his sword into the trunk of the tree with all his strength. And with an equally strong pull, he yanked the sword and and spun it in his hand, facing the weapon's blade away from the tree as he firmly gripped the hilt. He brought his arm up into the air and then down, slamming the hilt of the blade against the tree with the rest of his strength. When the attack bounced off the wood harmlessly, Jaune exhaled and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"JAUNE!"

He flinched and dropped the sword into the dirt, scrambling to pick it up as his father stomped angrily towards him. After he grabbed the sword, he hopped to his feet and turned to face his father.

"What the HELL are you doing? I told you not to touch that thing!" Josiah shouted as he yanked the sword from his sons grip. His eyes scanned the tree behind his son, cut marks adorning the old battered thing. "...Jaune..." He began. "I told you to give up on your dream! It's not happening! I've been telling you for years, and I'll keep telling you until I drill it into your thick skull!"

Jaune puffed his chest out as he locked eyes with his father. "I told you, dad. I'm becoming a huntsman, just like you and grandpa! I mastered the wolf, and now I'm mastering the sword!"

"HA!" Josiah forced a fake laugh out of his lips. "Master the wolf? Pup, you can't master the wolf. You just stop him from mastering you." His gaze was drawn to the small book on the ground, causing the man to bend down and pick it up despite his sons protests.

"Uh, th-that's nothing dad, just ignore that-"

"Sword fighting for dummies." Josiah read the title of the book and chuckled to himself. "Guess that wolfs blood makes you a rebellious son of a..."

Jaune winced for a moment, but stopped when he noticed his fathers expression soften. Josiah turned to his son and stepped closer to him, a look of pain spreading across the mans face.

"Jaune. Please. Give up all this nonsense." Josiah watched as his son tore his eyes away and looked towards the ground, arms crossed defiantly. "Why do you even want to be a huntsman?"

"Because. All the stories that you and grandpa shared... All the people you helped... I wanna be a hero like you guys and help others too. I wanna show the world that Jaune Arc is a man, not some lonely, dumb and awkward boy who lives out in the swamp."

"Jaune..." Josiah glanced down at the book and ran his fingers over the cover. He grit his teeth as he slowly shoved the book back in his sons hands. "You can practice with the sword. But it's not in your destiny to become a huntsman. Your destiny is here, with us. I know the life of a farmer isn't exciting, but it's the safest and most honest thing you can do. I know that one day you'll understand that, but for now I'll just... let you get all of this huntsman nonsense out of your head."

Jaune held the book close to his chest before gritting his teeth and nodding. Josiah soon turned and left his son to his practice, hoping that it would at least give him something to do in the meantime.

As he opened the book once again, Jaune breathed a sigh of relief that his father didn't find what he had hidden in it. Flipping the pages to the center of the book, Jaune pulled out the envelope that was securely placed inside the book and opened it. It was his ticket off of Mistral, after all. He couldn't let anything happen to it, and it certainly couldn't let his father see it. As he unfolded the piece of paper, he read the title to himself.

"Beacon Academy."

This application was his way out of Mistral, and into the life of a huntsman like he wanted. Despite the years of discouragement and refusal, Jaune Arc would become a huntsman. He was a young man now, he could make his own choices in life, and his first choice was to go to the prestigious Beacon Academy, even if he never had any formal weapons training. The years spent mastering his cursed bloodline would give him a feral edge in combat, one that would surely cover the gap that only extremely basic weapons training would create.

Jaune stretched a bit before picking up his belongings. As he turned to look at the now setting sun, he wished that his father would understand why he wanted to be what he wanted to be. But sadly, that was something that would never happen. He turned and trudged his way back to the house, already catching the scent of dinner before he even approached the door. With a smile forming on his face, he pushed it open and went inside.

Jaune plopped down in his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Tonight would be the night that he would start his new life. He had already made contact with someone in Vale that could help him get into Beacon, and it had been a monumentally hard task given how limited his access was to any real technology. But he did it. He had even gone so far as to plan out his travels in advance, he bought all the tickets necessary and saved up the money that would pay for his documents. Now all that was left to do was to wait for the right time to leave.

As he continued staring up at the ceiling, his mind sifted through the memories of his training throughout the years of his life. The most painful part was learning to control the transformation process, and once he had mastered that the rest was simply learning to listen to both your instincts and your brain. He remembered running through the bog on all fours with his father, learning to how to hunt down prey just like the wolves did, learning how to fight with tooth and claw. He learned how to use his improved senses in his every day life, his hearing, his smell and his nightvision all came in handy at some point or another.

And the next full moon wasn't for another month entirely! He would have plenty of time to figure out what he was going to do when he was at Beacon. After all, he just had to keep himself hidden and locked up for a single night. That wouldn't be hard, would it?

A door creaking shut shook him from his thoughts. Only a little while longer now, and his mother and father would be asleep. That was when he would take his belongings, grab Crocea Mors and leave. But as he continued to wait patiently, his thoughts drifted. He was going to break his mother and fathers heart, all just so he could live his dream. He never understood why his father wanted to keep him from the life of a huntsman when he himself had been a very succesful one. Josiah had plenty of medals and trophies from all the great deeds he had accomplished, and Jaune wanted to have his own collection to remind him of all the good he had done in the world. He wanted to save people, to make a difference. He wanted to BE someone, instead of the hermit who lived with his family in the bog.

But in order to be a hero, you have to make sacrifices. His relationship with his parents would have to be that sacrifice, no matter how painful it was.

Jaune waited a few more hours before he got out of bed and snuck out the door. Turning his ear to his parents bedroom, he heard the sounds of his mother and father snoring in the night. With a firm nod, he crept back into his room and grabbed his suitcase. As he tiptoed down the stairs, his eyes fell upon Crocea Mors, the sword having just been polished while the shield lay folded up into its sheathe form. He carefully walked over to the table and picked up the weapons, strapping the sheath to his belt before placing the sword inside.

Jaune then made his way into the kitchen, where he carefully laid a note onto the table, pinning it under a salt shaker. His eyes gazed over the note one last time.

 _Dear mom and dad,_

 _I'm sorry that I have to do this, but I know that there's no other way. I'm leaving for Beacon Academy in Vale, and by the time you read this, I'll already be long gone. I don't want to be the weird, weak little boy on the edge of the swamp anymore. I want to be a hero. I want to be a huntsman, and I'll sacrifice anything to achieve that, even if it means my old cozy life. I know you'll be worried about me, that you think I might be too soft or unprepared for the real world, but I always have the wolf to guide me. My instincts have never taken me down the wrong path, and I know they never will. I'll keep the wolf hidden though, and only bring him out if my life depends on him. I'm also taking Crocea Mors with me, they will protect me as well._

Jaune nodded firmly to himself before he returned to the living room and picked up his luggage. He quickly did a double check of everything in his pockets and in his backpack before he walked to the front door and opened it. Stepping outside the door, Jaune turned and took one last look at the empty living room before he finally shut the door behind him.

The wolf was free to pursue his own destiny now.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Yeah, another supernatural Jaune-centric fic. This will be the last one I write for awhile, because I don't feel like writing a bunch of Jaune fics. I'll leave that to the master, Coeur Al'Aran, since he's far better at it than me.

A bit of backstory before I get to the fic details themselves!  
Someone in the Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc reviews suggested that I make a werewolf Jaune fic, and I laughed it off at first, thinking nothing of it.  
But then I thought "Hey, I like werewolves more than dragons, and I like the idea of putting myths and fairy tales into Remnant just like the canon show did." so here it is.  
And then as I was writing the plot down, I thought "Hey, a wolf is a canine. And what do canines usually hate? Cats! And Blake is part cat... Hm..." and then it became a knightshade fic.

So thanks, BlueBlood66! This idea might never have happened if you didn't suggest it!

Anyway, this fic is going to be different than Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc. It's going to be a lot slower paced, and a bit more serious. Blake's not going to stumble upon a werewolf jaune training in a goofy fashion, and it won't be as loose as Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arcs general feel is. Granted, this isn't going to be a straight up serious story, and there are going to be a few skips here and there. After all, I can't write every single day to day interaction between Blake and Jaune, there's actual plot that has to be gotten to! But I promise to make the interactions between the two main love interests... interesting. They won't immediately fall in love, after all I don't think that would ever be Blake's style. So sorry, fluff lovers, you might get some fluff here and there, but not a whole lot. Most of the interactions between the two will be meant to build on their relationship, not to fluff it out.

As a quick note, this story will be updated every 10 days as opposed to Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arcs every 5 days. This may be subject to change at a later date, but I'm not so sure at this point.

Either way, I hope you all enjoy this as much as you enjoy Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc!


	2. Chapter 1 - Initiation Station

Jaune gazed out through the glass windows and took in the sight of the approaching building.

Beacon Academy, as it was called, was a place that took young aspiring huntsmen and forged them into legends that would protect their world from the forces that would see it harmed. And it was here that he would be able to begin anew, not held back by his family or his curse. His hand briefly brushed the sheathed blade at his side, a reminder of the life he left behind and the family that he no doubt caused so much pain to. It was best to get those thoughts out of his head now, or else they would risk weighing him down in the future.

The ship rocked for a moment, sending someone nearby into his shoulder. The person bumped into him with a grunt as their face winded up plowing itself into his chestplate. Looking down, Jaune took in the sight of a rather young and adorable looking girl with black hair that ended in red, possibly natural, highlights. The girl gazed up at him, her silver eyes meeting his own blue pools. Jaune offered her a smile, making the girl blush as she pushed herself off of his chest. She cleared her throat before she finally managed to work up the nerve to speak. "So-sorry. I uh, I lost my balance."

Jaune's smile grew a bit brighter. "It's alright. I'm not really used to these things myself. Are you-" His question was cut off by the approach of another person, this time a taller, rather shapely blonde with lilac eyes. The blonde woman placed a hand on the smaller ones shoulder as she forced herself into their conversation.

"Ooh, Ruby! Already flirting with the boys?" The blonde teased as she pulled the smaller girl closer to her own body. This caused the smaller girl to push the taller girl away and fold her arms across her chest in either annoyance, embarrassment or both.

"YANG!" She shouted. "Stop it! It was just an accident!" The girl looked back at Jaune, the blush on her face momentarily turning a brighter shade of red before she managed to gather the courage to speak more. "Sorry about her. Uh, my name's Ruby." She held out a hand and Jaune accepted it with no hesitation, shaking it for a moment before they both let go.

"My name's Jaune. And uh, I wanted to make sure your head was okay. You sorta clonked it on my armor when you fell into me."

Ruby attempted to speak, but her sister pushed her out of the way. "Ah she's fine. Her heads as thick as a rock!"

"HEY!" Ruby shouted as she attempted to... attack? her sister with her fists.

The older girl simply held an arm against the smaller girls head, keeping her far enough away that she couldn't reach. "Anyway, MY name's Yang Xiao Long. And I gotta say, you're not so bad looking, Jaune. I like seeing guys with an appreciation for longer hair!"

Jaune felt his face warm up as his hand went to the back of his head. He ran his fingers through his hair, which had grown longer in the back. He had meant to get it cut when he first arrived in Vale, but the time seemed to have passed by without him realizing it. It had grown much longer since he left Mistral, down to his shoulders in fact."O-oh, really? I uh, I just haven't had it cut in like a month. I thought it looked really uh... I thought it looked bad."

"Nah dude. Looks good. But I guess I'm a little biased myself!" Yang laughed as she ran her free hand through her hair, letting it flow in the air as it dropped. "So, you from Vale?"

"Mistral, actually."

"Ooh, Mistral! Our uncle's been there a lot!" Ruby stated with a hint of excitement in her voice. "There are lots of swamps there, right?"

"Yep. I actually lived in a bog myself." He paused for a moment. "Uh, in a house in a bog. Not... in the bog." Jaune scratched the back of his head as he stuttered, trying not to get tongue tied. Ruby giggled quietly at his nervous disposition while Yang simply continued on with the conversation.

"Bog huh?" She placed a hand on her hip and leaned forward, her curiosity piqued. "There's a lot of dangerous Grimm out in the bogs, right? How'd a scrawny guy like you make it out there?"

"Sc-scrawny?" Jaune parroted.

"...Didn't you just say that he looked good?" Ruby questioned as she stared at her sister in confusion.

"I'm not... THAT scrawny! I mean come on!" Jaune held out an arm and flexed it, a few small muscles forming in his arms. "Does THAT look scrawny to you?"

Yang said nothing as she removed her hand from her hip and flexed it out in return, her muscles proving to be bigger than his. Jaune's face flushed in embarrassment as he put his own arm down. "Oh..."

"Ah relax, Jaune. You're right. You aren't THAT scrawny! Besides, I work out a lot, so of course I look better." Yang made sure to state her physical fitness prowess with a bit of pride as she smiled at her fellow blonde.

The entire ship rocked back and forth again as the ship finished its docking procedures, nearly throwing the three of them off balance again. The three soon-to-be hunters noticed that the rest of the passengers began to disembark, with them following suit as to not be stuck flying all the way back to Vale.

Once the three of them had stepped off of the ship, they gazed in awe at the massive academy. Now that they were at its doorstep, they could see the massive structure in its full glory and appreciate it properly. As Jaune gazed up at the center tower, he felt a range of emotions well up inside of him. The biggest of these was his excitement, of which he was barely able to contain as he found his mouth slowly sliding into a toothy grin.

"WOAH!"

Jaune jumped at the expression of shock, glancing over at the two sisters he had just made small talk with, only to see Yang staring at him as if he had grown two heads. The stare made him uneasy as her eyes grew wider, her gaze seemingly transfixed on his... mouth? Was there something stuck in his teeth?

"Dude, you've got some MASSIVE chompers!" She exclaimed as she pointed to his mouth.

Ruby turned her attention to him as well, her eyes going wide, though not as wide as her sisters, at the sight. "Wow! Those are some big canines, Jaune!"

"Seriously!" Yang held a hand up to her own mouth. "You could bite clean through metal with a set of teeth like that! That's kinda freaky!"

Jaune felt his blood rush to his face, his skin turning bright pink as a result. Slapping a hand over his mouth, he honed in on the specific word that Yang had uttered. Freaky. He blinked a few times before he muttering out a short "Sorry." The blonde then turned tail and ran from the two, catching them both by surprise.

"Jaune! Wait!" Ruby cried out as the blonde ran from the both of them, vanishing into the crowd. She stood there for a moment before she felt anger swell up inside of her. Turning to her sister, the smaller girl began to chew her out. "YANG! How could you call him freaky?! You seriously hurt his feelings!"

Yang waved her arms frantically in front of her. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, it just sorta slipped out! I'm not used to seeing Faunus like that!"

"You need to go find him and apologize right now! ...Wait a minute, Faunus?"

Yang scratched her head as she looked in the direction that Jaune had run in. "Well, yeah. Humans don't get teeth like that. He's gotta be like, part dog or something."

"Ooooh..." Ruby hummed as she followed her sisters gaze. Then, a look of realization flashed onto her face as she turned back to her sister. "YANG XIAO LONG! YOU'RE A RACIST!"

* * *

Jaune finally slowed to a stop upon realizing that he was running around an academy that he had no idea how to get around properly. He had already made a stupid mistake and he had JUST arrived. Then he realized that he left behind what could have possibly been his first real friend, Ruby. There was a second stupid mistake. Now all he needed was to go for the third and call it a day. He really wasn't sure if he could be friends with Yang before she called him freaky, but now he was certain that she could be counted out. After all, when a girl calls you freaky that pretty much means that you'll never have a chance at even being able to talk to her properly ever again.

What about his teeth were freaky anyway? He pulled out his scroll and snapped a picture of himself grinning. Despite the fact that he hated taking pictures of himself, he needed to for scientific reasons. A quick search on the Remnet showed him exactly what was wrong with his teeth. Compared to a normal human canines, they certainly didn't look like human teeth. His canine teeth were sharper and much more pronounced, most likely attributed to his heritage of being a werewolf. They were also slightly larger than normal human teeth, meaning that they really stuck out when he showed them, especially when they were right in the middle of his normal human teeth.

Closing his scroll, Jaune used the reflective surface to further inspect his teeth as he held it out in front of his face. "I guess that means I'll just have to smile with my mouth shut from now on..." He mumbled as he continued to examine himself. But as he continued to look at his reflection, something caught his eye. For a brief moment, he saw someone elses reflection pass behind him. And in that brief moment, he caught a long head of flowing black hair that was as dark as the darkest night in Mistral, and adorning the head of the person was a petite black bow.

Jaune blinked a few times before he lowered his scroll and began searching for the person that had just passed by, his head darting left and right in an attempt to find them. As luck would have it, his eyes locked onto the very person he was searching for, a girl in fact, walking back towards the academy's main courtyard. Or at least, that's what he assumed it was since there were a ton of people around.

"She seems to know where she's going..." He mumbled to himself as he took off after the girl. "I'll bet she can point me in the right-" His jog slowed down into a walk as he approached the girl. It was around arms length apart when the hairs on his body began to stand on end, a sign from his instincts that told him when something was very, VERY wrong. "Uuh..." He mumbled aloud unintentionally, the creeping sensation of danger that he felt keeping him from being silent. The black haired girl turned around, her eyes shifting into a very minute scowl as he entered her vision. Most likely due to the fact that he was uncomfortably close.

Upon seeing the minor hostility in her features, Jaune backed up a step. "S-sorry! I uh, I wanted to ask you..." Her amber eyes pierced into him, making him stutter even more. "I-if you... knuh... uh, knew where the mah-main hall was?"

The girls glare eased up at his question, but only slightly. "Yes, I do. If you continue to follow the path in this direction, you'll reach the courtyard. From there, the main hall is directly north."

Jaune let out a sigh in relief, relief for both the directions and the fact that the girl seemed to be much less hostile now. In his relief however, he failed to notice that he was performing his usual actions when relieved. "Thanks." He sighed as he began to scratch at the back of his head, smiling his toothy grin that he so loved to flash back in Mistral. As soon as he felt his lips parting, he began to panic. "No... NO! Jaune you idiot don't smile!" He frantically thought to himself, though the thoughts couldn't stop his body, as the process was already set in motion.

He watched the girl in front of him, her eyes going wide at the sight of his teeth. But she was only surprised for a second it seemed, her features softening further at the sight of his mouth. What was even more bizarre was the fact that her lips curved into the tiniest smile as she looked at him.

Catching herself staring, the girl seemed to blush just a tiny bit as she directed her gaze back up to his eyes. She then opened her mouth to speak. "Sorry. I didn't mean to stare, it's just that I didn't know that you were-" A sudden explosion rang out from the direction of the courtyard, interrupting her and startling the both of them.

"What the heck was that?!" Jaune shouted as he stared at the smoke cloud forming. "Oh jeez, we need to make sure they're okay!" Without even giving the girl time to respond, he grabbed onto her hand and began running to the source of the explosion.

"Wha-Hey!"

As soon as their hands touched, Jaune felt like gnawing his arm off as if it had been caught in a bear trap. What the hell was going on with his mind? Why were such dreadful thoughts and feelings suddenly sending out warning signals about this specific girl? He would have thought on it further, but he pushed all his instincts into the back of his mind as he focused on the real problem at hand, the explosion.

The two of them arrived in the courtyard and were greeted with the sight of the young girl that Jaune had met on the ship, Ruby, sitting in a crater with a particularly nasty looking white haired girl glowering over her. The two of them slowed to a stop when the black haired girl Jaune had unintentionally kidnapped nearly tripped over a bottle.

The girl shot Jaune a nasty glare as she ripped her hand from his. He watched as she glanced down at the bottle before she bent over and picked it up, so that she could get a better look at it. It contained what looked like a dust crystal, which was something that Jaune had little experience with. He carefully eyed it over her shoulder, but turned his attention back towards the now arguing pair of girls that most likely caused the explosion earlier.

"Hey! I said I was sorry, Princess!" Ruby shouted as she stood up and dusted herself off.

"It's heiress, actually." Everyone turned to look at the black haired girl as she stepped forward, holding out the bottle in front of her as she did. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

The girl named Weiss smiled proudly as she stepped towards the girl. "Finally, some recognition!"

"Uh... Who and what?" Jaune muttered as he joined the two, not noticing that Weiss's face melted into one of complete confusion at his ignorance.

"As I just said, the Schnee Dust Company is one of the worlds largest producers of energy- Dust. They produce lots of dust, and they are stationed in Atlas." The black haired girl explained before handing the bottle back to the heiress in front of her.

"Oooh..." Jaune placed a hand on his chin. "Never heard of it."

The heiress began shouting in complete shock. "WHAT?! Do you live under a ROCK?!"

"Uh, no. I lived in a bog though." Jaune glanced over at Ruby, who began snickering at his remark.

The black haired girl's eyes also went wide as she expressed her shock. "I'm honestly surprised that you haven't heard of them, given that the company is infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

Weiss's anger reached its peak as she stamped a foot on the ground. "How DARE you! I will not sit here and be ridiculed like this! I deserve FAR better treatment!" The heiress "hmphed" as she gathered her things and began storming off towards the academy.

Ruby followed for a brief moment before stopping. "I promise I'll make this up to you!" She shouted as the Heiress continued to storm off. "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day... So, what's..." Ruby turned to where Jaune and the black haired girl where standing, only to find that the two of them had completely vanished. With a tired sigh, she collapsed onto her knees. "...Welcome to Beacon..." She mumbled to herself, not noticing the shadow engulfing her. When she opened her eyes and turned to face the shadow, she found a hand being offered to her.

"You alright, Ruby?" Jaune asked as the girl took his hand. "It looks like you're off to a bad start." He grunted as he pulled the girl up off the ground.

* * *

As Ruby and Jaune walked down the pathway, Ruby began to frantically apologize to the blonde. "I'm so so SO sorry about what my big sister said, see we've never really talked to that many Faunus before because they don't really live on Patch, and I know what she said was really racist but she said she'd apologize, but then she ran off with her friends and then I exploded and-"

Jaune sighed as he continued listening to the girls rant before he picked out the choice word of Faunus. "Faunus?" He questioned, causing the two of them to stop moving. "I'm not a-" He paused as he thought about what he was about to deny.

Faunus were a sub-species of human that had animal features, right? And his teeth were among those that could be considered an animalistic feature, even though he wasn't actually a Faunus. If he ever did slip up and let some of the more obvious Werewolf traits out, there was always the possibility that he could just say it was a Faunus thing, right? "Oh my god Jaune, you're a GENIUS!" He cheered in his mind. "I mean, it's okay! Not uh, not a lot of people are used to us, so I understand. Your sister just kinda comes off as..."

"Loud, Obnoxious, Overbearing, Overprotective, Intimidating, Dum-"

"Yeah." He finished for her. "Those things."

The two of them stood still and stared at each other awkwardly before Ruby thought of a brilliant idea, one that she wanted to do the moment she set foot in Beacon's courtyard.

"So... I got this thing!" Ruby stated as she pulled out what looked like some kind of metal rectangle, the object quickly unfolding itself into a giant metallic scythe as she slammed the blade into the ground.

Jaune nearly fell over in shock, but the mere sight of such an amazing looking weapon kept him from falling. "Whoa! Is that a scythe?"

Ruby grinned as she pet the handle of her weapon. "It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!"

"A uh... what...?"

"It's also a gun." Ruby cocked the weapon for added effect.

"Oh." Jaune's mind drifted to his dinky sword for a moment. "That's cool!"

Ruby folded her weapon up once again before turning back to him. "So what have you got?"

"Oh! I, uh..." Jaune's hand went for his scabbard, pulling Crocea Mors out from it before he held it up triumphantly. "I got this sword!"

Ruby cooed as she examined the weapon. "Ooooohh!"

Jaune perked up a little at her reaction, his hand going to his scabbard. "Yeah, and I've got a shield, too!" He stated proudly as he pressed a button on the scabbard, causing it to expand outwards into a shield with enough force to send the thing flying into the air. He let out a yelp as he caught the shield in his hand during its descent.

Ruby cooed again as she touched the shield. "So, what do they do?"

Jaune felt sweat slowly forming on his forehead. Do things? Were weapons supposed to do things other than kill? How disconnected was his family from society anyway? At least he had his shields... special feature? "The shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... put it away..." He explained as he folded the shield back into its scabbard, albeit with a little trouble as it reformed twice before finally staying as a scabbard.

Ruby looked confused as she observed him put his weapons away. "But... wouldn't it weigh the same?"

"Yeah, it does..." Jaune stated as he strapped Crocea Mors back onto his belt.

Ruby giggled as she began stroking her folded up scythe. "Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, sooo... I guess I did go a little overboard when designing mine."

Jaune had to do a momentary double-take at what she said. "Wait, you made that?!"

"Of course!" She boasted proudly. "All students at Signal forge their own weapons! Didn't you make yours?"

Jaune blinked a few times. He was supposed to make his own weapon? Oops. "It's a hand-me-down." He stated glumly. "My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war, and my dad used it when he was a huntsman."

Ruby smiled nervously as she watched Jaune sulk. "Sounds more like a family heirloom to me!" She said in an attempt to cheer him up. As she glanced at the folded up weapon, compassion flashed briefly in her eyes as her smile grew a bit wider. "Well, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah..." He glanced down at his weapon once more. "...the classics..."

The pair began to slowly walk again as Ruby shifted the conversation away from weapons in an attempt to cheer Jaune up a little. "So why'd you help me out back there? In the courtyard?"

"Eh, why not?" Jaune shrugged. "My mom always says, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.'"

"Hmm." Ruby hummed before she remembered something important. She had no idea where they were. "Hey, where are we going?"

Jaune glanced around and noted that he didn't recognize the area that they were in. "Oh. I don't know, I was following you!"

"Well uh..." Ruby also began to glance around. "Where do we go to get to the main hall?"

"I don't..." Jaune paused as he thought back to the directions that the black haired girl gave him. "Oh uh, let's find our way back to the courtyard, then it's due north from there!"

"Alright then! Lead the way, Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed as the two of them made their way back to the courtyard.

* * *

As Jaune and Ruby entered the main hall, Ruby caught sight of her sister and began to tug at Jaune's arm.

"Oh! There's my sister! You should come over and talk with her again!" Ruby tugged harder. "Y'know, so she can apologize!"

Jaune glanced over at his fellow blonde, who had only just noticed the two of them entering. She waved at them for a moment before realizing who he was, her hand lowering a bit and her facial features softening into a sad and nervous smile. Jaune pulled away from Ruby, reluctant to go over to the blonde that called him freaky earlier, regardless of whether or not she was going to apologize. "Uuh, that's okay Ruby. Maybe another time."

"Oh... Okay..." Ruby sighed and began to slink away in defeat, making the boy feel worse about rejecting her attempted peace treaty meeting.

Jaune turned and began shuffling into the crowd, a task that he found nearly impossible as the hall became more and more packed. The blonde found himself being knocked backwards by a rather tall brute with brown hair, the teen scowling at him before turning his attention back to the stage. Jaune continued to stumble backwards until he plowed into another person for the second time today.

"Oof! Sorry, I wasn't-" He fixated his gaze on a rather nervous looking redhead, her green eyes locking onto his pools of sapphire. "I... uh... wasn't watching where I was falling- I mean going!"

The redhead giggled lightly at his nervous disposition. "That's quite alright, it's very packed. I'm surprised we found our way in here."

He laughed a bit awkwardly and nodded in return before he went back to watching the stage. A tap on his shoulder broke his focus once again as the redhead crept beside him and began talking again. "So, if it isn't rude of me to ask, what's your name?"

Jaune looked at the redhead once again, this time noticing that she was far more... beautiful than he had noticed before. And she was talking to him? Hopefully this didn't end up like the last two pretty girls that talked to him today. "M-my na-name? You want to know MY name?" The redhead stifled another giggle as she nodded. "Uh... It's Jaune. Jaune Arc."

"Well then, Jaune." She held out a hand, seemingly eager to introduce herself. "My name is Py-" She paused for a moment before leaning in closer, her voice lowering as she almost whispered her name to him. "Pyrrha Nikos!"

"Pyrrha..." Jaune shook the redheads hand. "That name sounds familiar..."

Pyrrha retracted her hand, her smile faltering a bit. "Oh... It uh... it does?"

"Yeah..." He mumbled as he placed a hand on his chin. "That name... Is it Mistralian?"

"Uh..." Pyrrha's smile had completely vanished down, her eyes drifting down to her hands as she began to twiddle her thumbs awkwardly. "Ye-yeah... It is."

Jaune stared at her for a moment, not noticing that she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. "Oh! So you're from Mistral!" He stated as the lightbulb went on in his head. "So am I!"

Pyrrha seemed to become less nervous at that statement. "Oh? Really?"

"Yeah! That's awesome! Us Mistralians gotta stick together after all, right?" Jaune smirked, though he did his best to hide his teeth.

"Uh... Right! Of course! Perhaps maybe we'll be lucky enough to be paired together during initiation!"

Jaune's smirk faded when he realized that he had no clue what the initiation test would even be. He wasn't very good at written tests. "So uh, hey, what even is the initi-" The speakers around the stage came to life as they filled the room with the sounds of someone clearing their throat. Everyone glanced up at the stage to see who Jaune could only assume was the Headmaster of the academy, Ozpin.

The headmaster leaned into the microphone. "I'll... keep this brief." He began. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look among you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

"That's a real confidence booster..." Jaune muttered to himself as he continued watching the Headmaster speak.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." Once the headmaster had finished his speech, he walked off the stage, only to be replaced by another person, whom he assumed was that professor who's hologram he remembered briefly seeing on the ship.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight;" She explained as she adjusted her glasses. "tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

"W-wait, we have to sleep in the ballroom...? With like... each other?!" Jaune exclaimed as he hopped a foot backwards, nearly plowing into a few people that were passing by.

Pyrrha's face seemed to light up with a bit of pink at that revelation. "Well... I suppose it's just for one night. And we will be supervised..."

"Aheh... Uh... Right, well I think I'm going to get a head start and find a good spot. I'll see you around I guess?" Jaune stated as he began to slowly creep away from the redhead.

"Oh, okay." She sounded a little disappointed, though if he had to guess that was probably because there weren't many Mistral transfer students at Beacon. "It was nice meeting you!"

"Nice meeting you, too."

* * *

Blake was comfortable. Well, about as comfortable as she could be while sitting on the floor in a huge ball room surrounded by hundreds of other people of mixed genders. She was used to these conditions at this point, and it was safe to assume that conditions like these would be revisited many times during the rest of her life. And she didn't need a bed to sleep in to be comfortable, especially not when she had her book, that was comfort enough for her. Though, it had been quite some time since she had to resort to using candlelight to read. The room was nearly dark, which was surprising given the fact that students were still trying to find places to sleep.

But, she found herself becoming uncomfortable for some strange reason. It felt as if she were being watched, and it wasn't the kind of normal creepy kind of watching either. She had caught plenty of boys, and even a few girls, staring at her both before and after she changed into her night gown. But the kind of stare she was feeling was one that didn't feel as if she were being ogled, no it felt like something was stalking her. Waiting for an opportunity to pounce and tear her to pieces. Every so often, she would take the time to turn a page in her book and briefly glance around the room as quickly and nonchalantly as she could. She wanted to at least pinpoint where this feeling was coming from so she could focus on it. That way she could be prepared if-

There. Her eyes caught sight of another pair that were looking straight at her. She felt her heart rate increase for a moment as she met the persons gaze. Or at least, she had to assume it was a person, but the eyes misled her into almost thinking they belonged to a beast. It certainly wasn't a Faunus, that was for sure. Faunus had eyes that could be easily picked out in the darkness, but they were still a persons eyes. These eyes glowed a ghostly blue as they penetrated her thoughts, and they weren't normal eyes. Human or Faunus. Faunus had night vision, but their eyes didn't glow like that. The pair of eyes glowed an even brighter blue as they narrowed into a cold glare, it was as if a creature of the night would burst out from the shadows any second and attack.

And then, the eyes went wide as they seemed to register that she was glaring back. They blinked a few times before they completely vanished into the darkness altogether. Blake's eyes traced the area around where they had vanished, waiting for a bit just in case they would reappear when she wasn't paying attention. But, nothing happened. She thought for a moment that perhaps it was a hallucination, stress induced or otherwise. But that was preposterous, there was no way that she would let her mind become that clouded by-

"Uh, excuse me, hi."

She nearly leapt out of skin when she heard the voice speak to her. Her head snapped to the source so quickly that she even startled the person who had approached her. Silently, she might add. She hadn't even heard a single footstep of his, and she was quite adept at picking out sounds in the darkness. Holding the candle towards the person, the light revealed that it had been the same blonde faunus boy that she had met earlier that day, and who had dragged her into a confrontation between the Schnee and some other girl against her will. She was a bit angry at that, but she couldn't necessarily blame him given the fact that an explosion at a combat school before the combat school had begun its first semester could be seen as a sign of bad things to come. Lowering the candlestick, Blake briefly acknowledged his presence with a "Hello" before returning to her book.

"So uh... I uh, I wanted to say sorry about earlier today." The blonde apologized as he rubbed the back of his head. "I sorta dragged you along with me when that explosion happened. I dunno why I did that but, heh... yeah... sorry."

"It's fine." She replied, flipping her brain into reading mode once again, she began preparations to drown out whatever it was that he had to say in the hopes that maybe he would leave her alone. It was nice that he was apologizing, but she had been interrupted enough times for the night, and she wanted to finish this chapter and sleep.

"I'm... I'm Jaune." He introduced himself as he extended a hand towards her.

"Blake." She replied, not bothering to look at him or acknowledge his gesture.

Jaune waited a few more seconds before letting his hand fall to his side again. She seemed reluctant to talk, perhaps maybe a compliment would open her up? "So... what uh... what's a pretty girl like you doing in a combat school?"

Blake's eyes briefly broke away from the words in her book, glaring at the blonde. She didn't come to a combat school to be hit on, that was for sure. "What do you think I'm doing in a combat school?" She questioned with venom in her voice.

"Ri-right... stupid question, sorry... I'll uh... I'll just leave you-" His eyes glanced down to the book she was reading. "Hey... is that the Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?"

Blake's eyes glanced back up at him, her lips pursing for a moment before she nodded. "It is."

"Oh cool!" Jaune blurted out as he sat down next to the girl, her groan of displeasure being either ignored or unheard. "I love that book! It's... actually my favorite! Did you know that the author originally intended the name Jekyll to be pronounced as Jee-kyll?"

Blake rolled her eyes as she scooted away from the boy. "Oh. Really? I didn't know that."

"Yeah, a lot of people don't. But, I really do love that book. It really makes you think, y'know? I mean, a lot of people see it as two souls in one body, but that's not really the case. It's all one person, just the darkest depths of his mind pushed to the surface. So the doctor's not as innocent as most people think he is. He's just a man embracing his dark desires because he can get away with it. And that's what makes me think, would everyone do that if given the chance?" Jaune glanced over to Blake, who seemed to be staring at him intently, her amber eyes drilling into him. He squirmed uncomfortably for a moment before he got to his feet. "Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to ramble... or spoil anything. I uh-"

"No, I enjoyed listening to your views on the story." Blake interrupted as she flashed a small smile. "And don't worry, I've read this before."

Jaune felt his face heating up as Blake smiled at him. Deciding that it would be best for him to take his leave before he said something stupid or embarrassing, he cleared his throat and spoke. "Heh... Well, I'm glad I didn't ruin it for you. Uh... I think I'll go before I break out into more ranting. Good night." He gave a small wave as he turned and walked back to his sleeping bag.

Blake gave a wave in return before she returned to reading. She had enjoyed that interaction with the blonde, far more than she thought she would. It gave her a little hope that maybe her time at this school wouldn't be as bad as she thought. After all, if one person had an interest in that kind of literature, then the standards of this school must have been a lot higher than she had originally thought they were after looking at their acceptance of the Schnee. Maybe her time at Beacon would be as good as she had originally hoped it would be.

"Hellooooo!"

Blake glanced up to see a rather shapely blonde dragging a smaller black haired girl towards her, the smaller girl thrashing and complaining violently as she was pulled along.

Maybe she was wrong after all.

* * *

Jaune began frantically pacing back and forth inside the locker room. "THIS IS RIDICULOUS! I KNOW my locker was supposed to be around here somewhere!" He exclaimed as he passed by Ruby and her sister. He spared them a short glance before he walked off, not wanting to get roped into a conversation.

"Hello, Jaune!"

He turned his head to see Pyrrha waving at him happily. He returned the wave and smiled, the redhead becoming even happier at his response.

"Do you need help looking for your locker, because I can help! I've already got my gear ready." The redhead offered as she inched forward. Before the blonde could even respond, a hand grabbed hold of Pyrrha's shoulder and pulled her back.

The hand belonged to the Schnee heiress, Weiss, who shot Jaune a nasty glare for distracting the redhead. "You don't need to help this dunce with anything. If he can't find his own weapon, then perhaps this school isn't for him."

"But, I don't-" Pyrrha was interrupted as the heiress stepped forward and waved a hand at Jaune.

"Could you please move along? We are discussing important tactics over today's initiation, and we don't need a..." She looked him up and down for a moment before she scowled. "...novice such as you distracting us."

"Oh... Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to ruin anything. I'll just go now, sorry." Jaune replied glumly as he quickly walked away, but not before hearing the small whine that the redhead let out as she was pulled back into the heiresses conversation. "I guess I would be whimpering too if I had to get a lecture from that girl of all people..." He thought to himself as he began scanning the locker room once more.

It took him another three minutes before he finally figured out what he was doing wrong. Apparently the lockers were labeled in rows that had both letters AND numbers. His locker was in row C-8, while he had been searching around rows A and B. He finally spotted his locker within seconds of solving this crazy puzzle of a locker room layout.

"Oh, there it is. Locker 636, row C-8. Thank god!" Jaune exclaimed as he opened up his locker and quickly grabbed Crocea Mors. With a relieved sigh, he shut the locker and turned to leave, only to find himself walking right into Blake. "GAH!" He shouted as he hopped backwards. "O-oh... It's you... he-hey, Blake."

"Good morning, Jaune. I assume you're prepared for initiation?" Blake asked, though she sounded as if she were completely uninterested in getting an answer.

"Yeah, about as ready as I'll ever be I guess..." He scratched the back of his head as he answered.

The two stood in silence for a moment before Blake turned to walk away. "Well, good luck." She said as she began to leave him behind.

"Uh, WAIT!" Jaune half-shouted, causing Blake to turn around and look at him as if he had just cat called her. "Uh... Good luck to you, too." He added before he held out his hand. Blake gave him a nod before she grabbed it and briefly shook it. Once again, Jaune felt the urge to bite his hand off after touching the girl. Or perhaps maybe it was his desire to bite... her hand off? No, that would just be sick. And completely pointless, since it didn't happen when he shook anyone elses hand. It had to be a problem with him. He watched as Blake left the locker room before an announcement came on the intercom system, informing all first year initiates to report to the cliff by the Emerald Forest.

With a sigh, Jaune placed his scabbard on his belt and marched off to begin his first step towards his lifelong dream.

* * *

As all the recruits filed onto the cliff, they were directed to stand on strange metal looking panels. Jaune thought it was odd, but he didn't question it as he took his place next to Ruby. The two shared a brief smile and a wave before the Headmaster stepped forward and garnered everyone's attention.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." The headmaster turned and nodded at Professor Goodwitch.

Glynda nodded in returned and stepped forward. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

Jaune heard Ruby mumble to herself in panic.

Ozpin took a swig from his mug and eyed each and every one of them slowly. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

Ruby let out a groan again.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"WHAAAAT?!"

Jaune flinched at Ruby's shout, glancing over at the girl before giving her a sympathetic shrug. He was going to be someones partner for the next four years? He never remembered reading anything about that... but then again, he didn't read about the initiation at all. Hopefully he would get someone he could get along with...

Ozpin cleared his throat to ensure silence before he continued. "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die."

"D-die...? They... wouldn't let that happen, would they...?" Jaune thought to himself as he gulped nervously.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene."

Jaune felt an icy knot form in his stomach. "Well... at least I've got experience from living on the outskirts of a small town... I just hope it's enough..."

Ozpin turned towards the edge of the cliff as he returned to his position next to Professor Goodwitch. "You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately." He turned back to them, leaning against his cane as he took the time to stare into each students eyes. "Are there any questions?"

Wait, did they ever explain how they were being dropped off? Perhaps it would be best to find out. Jaune raised his hand into the air, hoping he would be picked first. "Yeah, um, sir?"

"Good! Now, take your positions."

Jaune raised his hand higher, not noticing the students to his left getting into prone positions. "Uh, sir? I've got, um... a question." He was relieved when the Headmaster seemed to actually give him his attention. "So, this landing... strategy... You're dropping us off via bullhead or something, right?"

Ozpin took a swig from his mug before responding. "No. You will be falling."

"Oh, alright." That was a funny joke, falling into a forest. Huntsman weren't THAT crazy, were they? He heard a sound of a panel flipping someone into the air, causing him to actually worry a bit. Perhaps some more questions about this "landing strategy" would help him out. "So, is there like a specific landing strategy that you teach us?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

"Yep." Jaune thought to himself. "Huntsman are completely insane. I think I'm starting to see why dad didn't want me to be one." Jaune coughed into his hand before he felt himself crouch down into a prone position. "Right. Uh... thanks for answering my questions, sir."

The panel next to him flipped Ruby into the air, meaning that it was his turn next. He watched as Ozpin raised his mug and gave him a nod before he felt the panel underneath his feet buckle down.

And then it launched him into the air and off the cliff.

* * *

Jaune felt his heart beating furiously as he plummeted towards the earth below him. He had only been through something like this once before, and that was during his times learning how to hunt Grimm as a werewolf. He had been snatched up by a particularly big Nevermore, being lifted off the ground a considerable distance before a sword had impaled the bird through its head. As the young wolf plummeted towards the ground, his claws reached out for the thing closest to him, the trees of the bog.

While he was reliving his memories, he failed to feel the tingling sensation in his fingertips. As the treeline grew closer and closer, Jaune took a deep breath before holding out his hands, bracing himself for impact. He then shut his eyes.

What followed was the sound of blades scraping against wood, and a large amount of pain in his fingers. The blonde opened his eyes when he felt his feet slam against the ground, his momentum preventing him from standing for long as he fell to his knees. Jaune began to pant heavily as he stared at the dirt underneath him. What had happened? Had his instincts taken over at the last second? And what was with the sensation in his nails?

To answer his own question, he lifted his hands in front of his face and found that his nails had grown longer and sharper. "No! No no no, I can't be doing this here, not in public!" Jaune stuttered to himself as he glanced up at the tree he had landed next. A spiral path had been cut all around the tree from the top, all the way to the base near his location. He had latched onto the tree with his nail-claws and slid down the tree. Exactly the same as what he had done back in Mistral when the Nevermore released him.

"Okay. Calm down, Jaune. It was just an instinct thing. Your life was in danger." He began talking himself down. "You've got control now, so just... go find someone to partner up with or something." He breathed a few more times and relaxed his body. With his mind clear, the blonde broke into a sprint as he pushed through the dense forest.

Jaune continued to run despite the fact that the amount of dense shrubbery prevented him from gaining a sufficient amount of speed. It wasn't until his foot caught on a vine and sent him flying towards the ground did he consider that he needed to slow down. As the blonde fell, his hands positioned themselves between his body and the ground. As soon as he touched down, his body continued with its mad dash through the forest. "Wait... WHAT AM I DOING?!" The blonde cried out as he found himself running on all fours like a dog. "Stop! Stop stop stop!" He cried out as he halted his movements and stood to his full height.

"Why... why is this happening now? I haven't turned into a werewolf in a month, I shouldn't be having these problems! I'm not a wolf! I'm a human, and I'm in control of my own stupid instincts!" Jaune mumbled to himself as he stared into his now dirty palms. He curled them into fists before shutting his eyes tightly, trying to will away the beast that was attempting to break out of its cage. He had done a lot of work to put it in there, he wouldn't let a little trip into the wilderness free it again.

His concentration was broken by the sounds of gunfire. Jaune took a deep breath and decided that his best option would be to head towards it, because gunfire meant people, and people would be the best thing to have around in a forest that was mostly filled with giant man-eating monsters. It took him a few minutes of trekking until he finally found himself in a very small clearing... just in time to see a fellow human leap up into the air and slam down what looked like two gun-blades into the face of a black snake head. With a shout, the boy slammed his hands down into the weapons, causing a surge of energy to ripple through them and into the snake head. What followed next was nothing short of amazing, as the snake head rapidly inflated before it popped like a balloon.

"Woah." Jaune's jaw hung open as he approached the teen. "That was awesome, dude!"

The teenager seemed to be slightly startled by the appearance of another person, his face briefly flashing a look of sorrow before he stowed his weapons. "Thank you." He said before glancing around the forest.

"Is something wrong?" Jaune asked as he began looking around as well.

"It's... nothing. I was just... expecting someone else, that's all."

"Oh..." Jaune's shoulders began to sag. "If uh... if you want to be partners with someone else I understand. I guess I can just say I didn't see you."

"No. This is... adequate. And the rules were, the first person you make eye contact with. We are partners now, like it or not. I am Lie Ren, but you may call me Ren."

"Okay!" Jaune smiled before pumping his fist. "My names Jaune Arc, nice to meet you, Ren!" The two stood in silence for a moment before Jaune coughed. "So uh... what now?"

"I suppose our best bet would be to find the temple. I believe it's in this direction." Ren stated as he pulled his weapons out once again, using the blades to cut his way through the dense forest.

"Right behind you, partner!" Jaune exclaimed happily as he followed close behind.

* * *

Pyrrha strolled through the clearing cautiously, her weapons at the ready as she made her way through the forest. Every little sound warranted her attention, both for self defense and because she was looking for a specific target. She thought she had seen him fly in this direction, but perhaps she could have been wrong. A noise suddenly came from above, a strange animal calling out briefly before silence once again fell upon the forest. It was strange though, the animal sounded vaguely human.

"Uh... Hello? Anyone out there?" She called out. The animal noises repeated itself, as if to answer her. In one of her rare moments of weirdness, Pyrrha found herself repeating the noise back. And she was rewarded with a person falling from the tree onto the ground in front of her. A ginger girl flopped onto her back before she quickly hopped up and began talking.

"REN! I TOLD you that our sloth call would-" She paused when she saw Pyrrha. "You're... not Ren. Unless Ren suddenly turned into a redhead girl and changed clothes! ...You didn't, did you?"

"Uh, afraid not." Pyrrha replied with a nervous smile. The redhead was quick to notice the tears forming in the gingers eyes at that answer. "But... maybe we can find him if we work together?"

"Uh... Ye-yeah. And then maybe we can just... switch partners with whoever he got?"

"Oh, right..." Pyrrha mumbled as her shoulders sagged. "I forgot about the eye contact rule..."

"Buuuut... nobody knows about it except us! We can just deny it, right?"

Pyrrha smiled nervously. Was she really going to break the rules like this? "I suppose so."

"Great! So it's agreed! Once we find Ren, we never met! I'm Nora by the way!" Nora paused for a moment when she realized what she had said. "Don't remember that."

Pyrrha just let out a sigh. "I'm... Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos. Shall we go find your partner, Nora?"

"Yeah! Let's go! I bet he went into that cave over there!" Nora declared as she grabbed the redhead by her hand and lead her onward.

* * *

Jaune and Ren came across a vast temple in the middle of a clear field. They reached it with little trouble, not a single grimm appeared after Ren had killed that giant snake. Perhaps it was dumb luck, but Jaune was thankful either way. The two of them were surprised however, when they found out that they were not the first to get to the temple. Both Yang and Blake were already there, and they had also already made their choice of artifact.

"So, you guys got here first, huh?" Jaune asked as he looked at all the artifacts lined up, noting that they looked like chess pieces.

"I wish, but it looks like there were a couple other teams that got here already, since there were a bunch of pieces missing by the time we got here." Yang responded as she stretched out. "So, which one are you and string bean over there gonna pick?"

"Uuh, I mean, I don't know... I hadn't thought about that. Does it really matter?"

Yang shrugged. "Heck if I know. I just picked up the one I liked the most."

"Huh..." Jaune scratched his chin. "So, which one did you pick?"

"That's a secret!" Yang declared with a wink. "Can't have you guys trying to rig the test so you can end up with the two hotties."

Jaune and Ren just stared at the two of them, unamused. Blake seemed to join in as she also stared at her partner and shook her head disapprovingly. The four continued to stare at each other for a moment before a gunshot rang out from the forest across from the temple. A massive Ursa Major erupted from the treelines, with a small red blob stuck on its back.

"WAAAAH WEISS HELP!" Ruby cried out as the Ursa Major began violently thrashing around in an attempt to shake her off.

"You DOLT! Why did you leap onto its back?!" Weiss cried out as she fired off a icicle, targeted at the beasts legs.

"I THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA OKAY?!" Ruby shouted as she felt the Ursa Major fall onto one knee, the icicle from Weiss having lodged itself in the other. With a grunt, Ruby lifted herself up and leapt onto the Ursa's shoulders. With one swift strike, she decapitated the grimm with her scythe. As the beast fell to the ground, dead, the young reaper hopped off of its corpse.

"Don't ever... do that... again." Weiss panted, most likely out of breath from chasing the bear down.

"Ruby!" Yang called out, gaining the pairs attention.

"YAANG!" Ruby cried out as she became a red blur surging across the field within the blink of an eye.

Yang let out a grunt as her little sister tackle-hugged her, the two of them laughing as the blonde swung her sister in a circle before placing her back on her feet. "Riding in on an Ursa? Now that's cool, lil sis." Yang added with a wink and a grin.

"Heh, well, y'know. I'm a pretty cool girl!" Ruby added with a shrug.

"How could you..." Weiss gasped as she jogged up to the group. "...just LEAVE ME OVER THERE LIKE THAT!"

"Oh... uh..." Ruby shrugged in response. "Sorry?"

Another explosion erupted from the treelines to the right of the group. As everyone turned their heads to look at the source of the explosion, they found a orange haired girl sprinting out of the forest, a rather bulky looking grenade launcher in tow. From behind her, the redhead Pyrrha also emerged from the brush, a panicked look on her face as she attempted to catch up with the ginger.

"Chase me, chase me!" The ginger cheered as she continued running.

Everyone thought she was crazy for a moment before suddenly, a massive Deathstalker pushed its way out of the forest, uprooting a number of trees as it surged forward. It's pincers clacked together as it focused in on the small redhead human in front of it, nipping at her heels as she desperately tried to outrun the beast.

The ginger was the first to arrive at the temple, her eyes lighting up as her speed increased.

"REEEEN!" She shouted as she rushed towards her target.

"No-" Ren was interrupted when he was tackled to the ground. "...ra..." He coughed as the girl named Nora squeezed him into a death hug.

Everyone watched as the pair got to their feet before an unearthly screech echoed from the skies. Looking up, everyone took in the sight of a gigantic Nevermore soaring from the direction that Ruby and Weiss had come from.

"Oh that's just swell." Jaune stated bluntly as his arms went limp at his sides.

With a yelp, Pyrrha landed in front of the group, causing them all to stare down at her as she dusted herself off and scrambled to her feet.

"Great!" Yang exclaimed sarcastically. "The gang's all here! Now we can die together!"

Ruby cocked her scythe before flashing a grin. "Not if I can help it!" She boasted before she let out a shout and sped off towards the now approaching Deathstalker.

"Ruby, wait!"

Ruby either didn't hear her sister or didn't listen, choosing instead to launch herself forward using the momentum of her sniper rifle. She leapt into the air and met the Deathstalker head on, slashing at it with her scythe. The attack was easily blocked by the creatures massive pincer, which then smacked her back in the direction she came from with little effort.

Ruby flopped onto her back with a grunt before she slowly picked herself up off the ground. "Do-don't worry! Totally fine!" A hiss rang out from behind her, causing her to turn back to the Grimm that was now inches away from her. "Totally fine..." Ruby mumbled to herself as she fired off a quick shot into the Grimms face, using the kickback to propel herself away from the beast and give her a running start. She quickly folded her weapon as the Deathstalker returned to chasing her down, hoping that the sheathed weapon would be less cumbersome.

Yang couldn't watch any longer, choosing to run towards her sister instead. "Ruby!"

Ruby attempted to close the distance between herself and Yang, but a screech rang out from above them as the Nevermore closed in on the red reaper. With a flap of its wings, a storm of gigantic sharp feathers rained down upon Ruby, one of them pinning her cape to the ground while another batch formed a wall in front of Yang. "Ruby, get out of there!"

Ruby uselessly tugged at her cape, trying to get it loose. "I'm trying!" She shouted back before another screech interrupted her. She watched in horror as the Deathstalker approached her, raising its gigantic stinger above her head before it paused for a moment, as if to taunt the small girl before it killed her.

Yang reached out helplessly from in between the feathers as she watched her sister struggle. "RUBY!"

Another screeching sound rang out as a white blur surged through the field of feathers, reaching Ruby just as the Deathstalker brought its stinger down on the girl. In a flash of blue and white, the Deathstalker's tail was frozen to the ground. As the creature attempted to pull its stinger out, everyone saw that Weiss had saved Ruby and breathed a sigh of relief. As the two regrouped at the temple, Yang rushed up to Ruby and embraced her in another hug. "I'm so happy you're okay!" The blondes smile turned into a glare for a moment, her eyes turning red as it did. "Don't EVER do something that stupid again or I'm telling dad!"

Jaune looked back up at the sky to see the giant Nevermore circling around, preparing for another air strike on them. "Uh, hate to break up this reunion but, that thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?"

Weiss glanced at the temple before she looked back up at the Nevermore. She bit her lip for a moment before speaking up. "Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us."

"She's right." Ruby agreed. "Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs." The reaper gave the heiress a small nod before finishing. "There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live..." Jaune placed a hand on his chin. "Now THAT is an idea I can get behind!"

Jaune quickly turned and snatched up a gold horse looking statue before shoving it in his pocket. Ruby joined him, picking up a smaller golden castle before smiling at him.

"Ooh! Ooh!" Nora rushed forward and grabbed a similiar looking golden castle. "I want this one!" She said as she took it and ran to join the others.

A screech rang out from the field as the Deathstalker began to pick at the ice encasing its stinger with its massive pincers, cracking the ice little by little with every strike.

"I think it's time we left!" Ren shouted as he and Jaune ran up the hill.

"Right." Ruby nodded before rushing up past them, positioning herself on a rock.

Blake noticed that her partner had stopped, the blonde staring up the hill with a goofy smile on her face. "What's wrong?"

Yang let out a sigh as she watched Ruby wave at everyone before she leapt off of the rock she was stationed on. "Nothing..."

Blake gave the blonde a small, knowing smile before the two of them ran to catch up with the rest of the group.

* * *

It wasn't long before the group found themselves running into a set of ruins built into the side of a cliff, a bridge extending over the abyss below. As the group rushed towards the bridge, they failed to notice the shadow of the Nevermore as it swooped over them and cut them off. Without hesitation they began crossing the stone bridge, Jaune was the only one to catch sight of the Nevermore as it rammed into the structure haphazardly, knocking the group of teenagers in all different directions.

Jaune landed on a hard stone floor, quickly scrambling to his feet as he heard the sounds of gunfire. Looking across the chasm that had been created by the destruction of their bridge, he took in the sight of Ruby, Weiss, Nora, Pyrrha and Blake all fighting the Deathstalker which had cornered them on the edge of the cliff.

A loud screech rang out as Jaune ducked down out of instinct, the giant Nevermore's talons scraping the back of his armor as it flew by. While he was uninjured by the attack, the force of the blow knocked him back onto the ground, forcing him to get up once again. As he stood back up, he watched as Yang and Ren began unloading every single bullet they had into the giant Nevermore that was now circling the ruins. The creature dove down and threw out another storm of razor sharp feathers from its wings as it passed by, forcing the group even further apart. Jaune found himself rolling to his side before hopping to his feet, the sounds of Yang's shotgun gauntlets roaring in his left ear.

"This isn't getting us anywhere! Anyone got some ideas?!" She shouted as she unleashed another barrage at the winged monstrosity.

Jaune continued to gaze at the bird, his thoughts drifting back to when he would hunt them back in Mistral. "We rip out its throat." He growled as he pulled his sword out of his scabbard.

Yang stopped her barrage to admire her fellow blonde. "Oooh, that's hardcore. I like that in a man." She added in a playful growl before turning her attention back to the bird. "But that things in the air. I don't think we can get to its throat so easily, dude."

"Well... There's always one way..." He stated as he stared at the blonde brawler. "You could always try throwing me."

Yang turned her attention back to him, staring blankly for a moment before she burst into laughter. "PFFFHAHAHA! Oh my GOD! You're a psycho! I'm all for flashy and risky stuff, but there's no way in hell I'm throwing you at that thing!"

"I agree. That plan is one that's best saved as a last resort." Ren added as he unleashed another storm of bullets aimed at the Nevermore. "Perhaps instead of going to the bird, we bring the bird to us?"

"How exactly are we gonna do that, string bean?" Yang asked as she cocked her gauntlets and fired off two more shots of her own.

Jaune hummed quietly as he glanced around the surrounding area. It wasn't until he looked over at Ruby's side of the ruins that he saw Blake get knocked off the bridge accidentally by Nora. He felt a bit of panic well up inside of him before he saw Blake's weapon fly up and embed itself in one of the pillars scattered around the ruins, a long black ribbon tied to the end of it. He continued watching as Blake emerged from the abyss below, swinging on the ribbon as if it were some kind of grappling hook. The agile teen landed down on their side of the battlefield, allowing Jaune to flag her down by waving his arms. With a grin, he turned to his two companions. "I just got a great idea."

The Nevermore circled the arena once again, watching carefully as its Deathstalker companion was tossed into the abyss below by the combined teamwork of the second group of humans. The bird let out a screech as it flapped its wings, showering the group with a storm of feathers in an attempt to enact revenge for its fallen companion. The bird began changing directions before a beam of light shined in its eyes. With a frustrated squawk, the bird paused its moment in mid air and frantically flapped its wings to keep itself flying. Its red eyes locked on to the source of the light shining in its eye, a human reflecting sunlight off of his shield.

The Nevermore let out a screech dove down towards them again, this time locking on to the human that had so foolishly chosen to stand out in the open. The bird readied its talons as it came in closer, ready to shred the person to ribbons. A flash of light caught the Nevermore's eye as it felt a blade enter its torso, the blade itself being connected to a black ribbon.

Yang let out a battle cry as she grabbed the ribbon from Blake's hand and leapt off of the ruins, her weight pulling the Nevermore down with her. Of course, she wasn't near heavy enough to bring it to the ground, but she was heavy enough to alter its flight path. Everyone watched as the Nevermore slammed into the stone tower face first, the bird falling onto the bridge from the concussive force of its impact. With a roar, Jaune rushed to the creature as it began to quickly lift itself off the ground. Without a second thought, the blonde plunged his claws and his sword into the birds neck. With a screech it reeled backwards and attempted to shake him off, but the teen quickly did the first thing that came to his mind. He sunk his teeth into the flesh of the Nevermore, the rancid taste of Grimm flesh flooding his mouth.

Jaune continued to tighten his grip on all fronts, and plunged his sword deeper into the Nevermore as it continued to violently thrash around. The Grimm crashed into the stone tower again, sending the entire structure tumbling into the abyss below. Ren and Blake continued to fire off shots into the bird while Yang began rushing to its legs, where she would deliver a powerful blow and snap one in half. The nevermore cried out as its wings began to flap, the bird attempting to take flight one final time. Jaune knew that if it did, he would most likely go with it and end up falling into the abyss below. With one final movement, he tightened his muscles and pulled himself from the bird with all his might. A sickening rip rang out as he brought massive chunks of the Nevermore's flesh with him, the birds shadowy blood spraying everywhere before it evaporated into nothing.

Jaune slammed into the stone of the ruins with a thud before he quickly scrambled to his feet, just in time to watch the giant Nevermore let out one last cry that was drowned in its own blood, the bird collapsing onto the bridge before its body began to rapidly decompose. The rest of the teens quickly regrouped on Jaune's position, with Yang and Ren making sure that he was able to stand properly. Blake meanwhile, looked at the body of the decomposing monstrosity, noting that its throat had been ripped out in a way that suggested it was torn out with tooth and claw, rather than the sword that the boy had.

"Holy shit dude..." Yang blurted out as her jaw hung open. "You actually ripped its throat out. That's... wow..."

"Yeah... I think... I got... a little carried away..." Jaune gasped in between his ragged breathes.

"I think that's an understatement." Blake added as the rest of the other group found a way across the gap.

"Hey guys! That was SO COOL! I can't believe you ripped that things throat out!" Ruby gushed as she tackled Jaune, hugging the blonde tightly. It took only a second for her to realize what she was doing before she pushed him away and blushed fiercely.

"Yeah... it was cool and all but... where do we go now?" Jaune groaned as he began looking around.

"Uuh..." Yang groaned as she looked up the cliff and pointed to the top. Everyone else followed her finger and collectively groaned at the notion that they had to climb up the cliff.

"...Great... Let's... ugh... get started..." Jaune sighed as he began slowly trudging towards the face of the cliff.

It would take them a half hour to fully climb the entire cliff, the group getting an airlift back to Beacon when they reached the top.

* * *

Everyone was exhausted, but they were also filled with excitement as they walked onto the stage. Ruby in particular was giddy about who would be on her team, despite the fact that she had reservations about it at first. But all the people she met today were awesome! Even Weiss! With a huge grin on her face, Ruby stood in front of Ozpin alongside Weiss, Pyrrha and Nora. The Headmaster gave them a smile before he turned to the large screens that were placed above them, the groups individual pictures showing up on each one.

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Pyrrha Nikos and Nora Valkyrie. The four of you successfully retrieved the White Rook piece. And from this day forward, you will be known as team RSNN." Ozpin nodded his head towards Ruby before he continued speaking. "Lead by, Ruby Rose."

As Ozpin finished, the crowd erupted into a mixture of clapping, cheering and laughing. All four members of the newly founded team RSNN stared at the headmaster, their jaws hanging open. The headmaster simply smiled and nodded at the four, signaling that they were to leave the stage.

"WHAT?! NO!" Nora shouted as her hands covered her mouth. "I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WITH REN!"

Pyrrha and Ruby exchanged a nervous glance as they grabbed Nora by the shoulders, pulling the ginger off the stage as the next group passed them, consisting of Jaune, Ren, Yang and Blake. As the two met for a brief moment, Nora began to frantically struggle and cry. "REEEEN! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Nora cried as she watched her partner walk by. He offered a sympathetic look before mouthing the words "I'm sorry" at her, causing her to burst into more tears.

Ruby and Pyrrha reinforced their grip on the ginger, with Ruby wrapping her arms around the girls waist while Pyrrha helped in dragging their teammate down the steps. Weiss waited for them at the bottom, tapping her foot impatiently as they finally managed to calm their fourth teammate down.

"Team... RAISIN?!" Weiss shouted as she hid her face behind both of her hands. "This has got to be a joke! And it's not a good one!"

"Well..." Ruby trailed off as she tried her best to smile optimistically. "Maybe it's like... raisin'... hell?"

Weiss looked up from her hands, an icy glare meeting Ruby's eyes. "Ruby Rose, I don't care how optimistic you think you are, but you cannot make this sound any better. Our team has got to have the WORST name in the HISTORY of Beacon Academy!"

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna. You four successfully retrieved the White Knight piece." Team RSNN glanced up onto the stage, watching as Ozpin announced the final team for the evening. "From this day forward, you will be known as team JLYB. Led by Jaune Arc!"

The entire hall broke out into a sea of laughter, the four teens on stage each sporting pink on their face as their team name was announced. All four members of team RSNN turned to each other and silently agreed that even though their name was pretty awful, at least they weren't the ones stuck on team "Jellybean."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 **"HERETIC! YOU'VE SCRAMBLED THE TEAMS AND CHANGED THE CANON! THIS STORY IS NOW DEAD TO ME!"**

Yes. I did, and let's try and keep calm about this, because think I have good reason for doing so.  
Mostly because I thought this would be a much better way to go about things rather than have them on separate teams. Let's face it, there was never really much of a reason for Blake to interact with Jaune in the show despite the fact that they were friends. She isn't the kind of person who would just be open to those not on her team, and Jaune certainly wouldn't be the one to approach Blake of all people freely unless she were his teammate.

So, why did I scramble them the way I did? Well, Blake and Yang are partners in the show, so why didn't I do something like pair her up with Pyrrha? Because Yang is really the only person in the show to ever call Blake out for anything she ever does, and she's the only one that ever keeps a close eye on her. They're partners, so it makes sense, but that's also part of Yangs personality.

With Ren, I found the concept of Ren and Nora being separated interesting, and I wanted to see how I could get it to play out, especially when he's now on a team with someone that's like him and another person that has similar personality traits to Nora.

Team RSNN will have their own problems to deal with too, namely Weiss and Nora, but these will not overshadow the main plot. Our focus is on Jaune, Blake and the rest of team JLYB, just like how the canon show places the focus on team RWBY while giving minor focus to team JNPR.

The team names I've chosen though, those are delightfully awful and I both love and hate them.  
I couldn't really think of much else, but I think it's better this way.

I also want to note that the other chapters won't be this long for the most part, I just wanted to get the entire initiation arc out of the way because I really REALLY hate retreading on this kind of territory. And unlike in my other story, it was required to do so this time for obvious reasons. And I wasn't about to spend like 4 chapters going through this again when everyone wants to get to the interactions, including myself.

And now, I'd like to wish everyone a happy Vol.4 premiere!

I hope you're all looking forward to it like I am, and I hope that you're all still looking forward to new chapters of this story!

Or, you just hate me now that I've written a **TERRIBLE** story that changes the team structure and show canon.

Cheers!


	3. Chapter 2 - Faunudice

This was a mistake. It had to be. There was absolutely no way that he was capable of leading a team.

He could fight, sure... okay well, he could at least offer a bit of retaliation, but leading was an entirely different subject. Was this some kind of cruel irony? He was a werewolf, and now he was set as the leader, the alpha, of his team. Or pack. The obvious parallels were beginning to become painful. It just all seemed to line up way too well, like some unseen force was manipulating everything to end up like this while having a laugh about it all the way.

Perhaps maybe he could approach the Headmaster tomorrow and try to convince him that he had made a horrible choice. With a sigh, Jaune finished placed Crocea Mors in his locker and closed it. As soon as the door was shut, the blonde was met with the face of his fellow blonde teammate staring directly at him, and not respecting his personal space either.

"AGH!" He hopped back a few steps before placing a hand on his chest. "Oh jeez. Don't scare me like that, Yang."

"Uh, sorry." She fidgeted in place for a moment before letting out a small chuckle. "So, pretty cool that you got to be leader, huh?"

"Yeah. Cool. We'll see how long that lasts..."

"Hey, you'll be fine. And uh, listen... I wanted to say that I was sorry for yesterday. I uh, I didn't mean to call you..." She paused and cleared her throat, her gaze turning to the lockers. "Anyway, it just sorta took me by surprise and, y'know..."

"Oh." Jaune let out a heavy sigh in relief. "You don't know how much better that makes me feel, thanks."

Yang tilted her head and leaned against the locker. "Why's that?"

"Well," He began "I didn't want to end up being on a team with someone who thought I was a freak and didn't like me. Four years with someone you dislike? Sounds awful." The two of them began walking to where the first year dormitories were stationed, Ren and Blake already staking their first claims due to their speedy and organized nature. The two of them had quickly placed their weapons in the locker room and left before their two blonde teammates had even entered.

"I feel you. I mean, I was actually kinda scared that I was gonna get that Ice Queen on my team... But, whether it's good or bad luck, Ruby was the one who got stuck with her." Yang folded her arms and gave a bit of a pout. "I hope she'll be okay with her team."

"Aah, you worry too much. She'll be a better leader than me, that's for sure."

"What's the deal with you?" She hadn't taken him as the pessimistic type, given how he acted during the initiation. "Why are you afraid of being leader of a team?"

He sighed in response, kicking the air as they continued walking. "Look, I've never really had any kind of interactions with people my age. Or people in general. Mistral isn't really a place to socialize, and it was even less so where I lived." He glanced away from her, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the ground as it passed by. "So, I just think it's a bad idea."

"Jeez, dude." Yang placed her hand on Jaune's shoulder and gave him a sad smile. "We haven't even started yet. Why don't you just chill and take it in strides? You can be all mopey when you actually screw something up."

"Yeah... I guess you're right." He sighed as the two of them approached their dorm. "Might as well make the best of things either way. Hopefully our room with be... roomy."

"Well, let's find out!" Yang replied with a grin as she turned the door knob and pushed the door opened. The two of them walked into the dorm, delighted to see that it was big enough to easily fit four beds along with two desks. They had certainly lucked out with their room given its size. Blake and Ren had already taken the liberty of setting up their things at the beds they had claimed, leaving Jaune and Yang to take the two center beds.

Jaune let out a sigh as he flopped onto his bed. A feeling of relief washing over him as he shut his eyes and relaxed for the first time since arriving at Beacon Academy. Cracking one eye open, he watched as the rest of his three teammates began unpacking their various things. He was quite lucky with his team formation, for the most part. Yang was incredibly well trained and now that she had apologized the two were on much friendlier terms now. Ren was quiet, but he carried an air of near infinite patience and compassion with him.

And Blake... she was... well, he really didn't know. While every little bit of his brain and heart told him that she seemed like a very nice girl, just a quiet bookworm, but the other side of his personality continued to gnaw at his thoughts and feelings. He had never doubted his instincts before, they had saved his life back in Mistral and they saved his life during initiation. It was the only part of the wolf left that he actually let out. But now it was screaming at him, trying to turn him against the person he had just been placed on a team with for the next four years of his life. He wasn't sure whether to believe his thoughts or his instincts.

"Alright boys, it's time to lay down the golden rule." Yang said as she clicked the latches of her suitcase open and threw it open.

Jaune sat up and stared at his fellow blonde, watching as she pulled an orange tank top from her suitcase. "Uh, shouldn't I be the one making the rules? I'm the leader, after all."

"Yeah well, you can be leader after I set this rule." She stated, her eyes narrowing at him. She smirked a little when her leader shrank down on his bed a bit in fear. "Alright, the rule is super simple and easy to follow! If either of us catch you peeping, I break your legs."

Strangely, as soon as the rule was explained, Ren seemed to get the biggest smile any of them had ever seen on his face, as if he were remembering something nostalgic. "Of course."

"Oh. That's all? I'm cool with that." Jaune replied to Yang as he laid back down. "What kind of a pervert do you think I am anyway?"

"WHAT kind? Oooh, Jaune, please tell me what kind of pervert you are!" Yang cooed as she leaned forward, purposefully pushing her chest forward as she did so.

Jaune's eyes snapped back open and his face flushed red. "Wait... THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! I'm not ANY kind of pervert!"

"Oh, really?" Yang seemed to pout as she went back to unpacking her luggage. "That sucks. I was in the mood to snap a bone or two."

"Gee, sorry I can't accommodate you on that." Jaune groaned sarcastically.

"I mean, you still could. You don't have to try and perv on us, you could just say 'Hey Yang, you're such a great friend, please snap a bone or two in my body for me!" Yang noticed the cold stare that Jaune was giving her and simply shrugged in response. "Or not."

"Or not." He repeated. "So, am I leader now?"

"Lead away, Captain Arc!" Yang replied while giving him a mock salute.

"Great. As my first order of business, I say we all get some sleep." He ordered as he flopped back onto his bed.

"...Aren't you going to unpack first?" Ren asked as he glanced over to his leaders suitcases. "It would be wise to have all your belongings where you want them for tomorrow."

"Naah." Jaune waved a hand in the air. "I'll do it after class. Today has been a little too much for me to take."

"..." Yang looked down at her luggage before glancing back up to her leader. She crudely shut the container and tossed it to the floor before hopping onto her own bed. "Leaders right. We should take a load off for a little bit before the work starts pouring in!"

Jaune pointed a finger at his fellow blonde and gave her a wink, the two of them eventually drifting off to sleep like logs after that. Both of their remaining teammates exchanged a brief glance that seemed to communicate a thousand different ways on how this team was going to end up being one of the most stressful things to manage for the next four years.

* * *

Jaune let out a yawn as he continued to stare at Professor Port.

Their very first class of their very first day, and it was completely boring. The professor was just rambling on about how awesome he was back in his youth. He would constantly talk about how many grimm he killed with just his bare hands, and how he had gotten so much fame and fortune from it almost like he was some sort of badly thought up Mary Sue character in a novel. Glancing over to his side, he noticed that Yang was almost completely asleep. He had thought about waking her up, but she really wasn't missing anything that warranted it. And he highly doubted that the Professor would notice.

Blake was, surprisingly enough, taking notes as she listened to the professor's most likely tall tales. And Ren seemed to be listening intently, before glancing over Blake's shoulder. Jaune's partner seemed to flash an extremely thin smile before he nudged his black haired teammate, causing her to look at him and blush before she stowed the paper she was writing on. Jaune caught a brief glance of the paper as Blake put it in her bookbag, the paper having various doodles of what looked to be ninjas on it. He snickered to himself briefly before turning his attention back to the professor.

Professor Port continued to ramble on, not noticing that none of his students were really paying attention except for a few. "The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!" Professor Port stopped in the center of the class, looking out at all the students. "So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

"I do, sir!" Everyone turned to see that Weiss Schnee had her hand firmly raised, a look of anger plastered on her face.

Professor Port hummed to himself for a moment. "Well, then, let's find out!" He announced as he stepped towards an iron cage, gesturing to it as it rattled. "Step forward, and face your opponent!" Everyone stared in disbelief for a moment, Weiss being the one who stared the longest, before she stood up and gave a firm nod before turning around and walking towards the exit.

"My dear, where are you going? Did your nerves perhaps get the better of you?" Professor Port taunted as he jabbed a thumb towards the cage next to him, causing it to rattle again and let out a small snort.

"With all due respect, professor, do you expect me to fight without a weapon while also in my school uniform?" Weiss questioned as she gestured to her outfit.

"O-oh. Right." Professor Port responded, scratching his nose a little. "In my prime, I of course, would be able to do such a thing. But you youth today aren't as battle hardened as someone of my caliber was back then. But please do hurry, Ms. Schnee."

Weiss came back into the room almost as soon as she left, the heiress taking her position in the center of the classroom while taking a defensive stance.

"Goooo, Weiss!" Nora cheered as she pumped a fist into the air.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha seemed to be clapping her hands very softly as she smiled and cheered along with the rest of her team. "Fight well!"

Ruby also joined in on the cheering. "Yeah, represent teeeeam... urgh... RSNN!"

Weiss let out a grunt as she lowered her weapon and glared at her leader. "Ruby! I'm trying to focus!"

"Oh, um... Sorry..." Ruby mumbled as she shrank down in her seat.

"Allllright! Let the match... begin!" Professor Port cheered as he used his axe to slice open the lock on the cage, unleashing what looking like a Boarbatusk. The grimm set it's sights on Weiss and almost immediately curled into a ball and shot itself at her like a speeding bullet. She managed to dodge out of the way in time, rolling to her feet while readying her weapon.

Weiss shook her head in frustration when she heard all her teammates cheering her on from the sidelines, namely Ruby, who's voice seemed to annoy the heiress instead of boost her confidence. In one swift movement, she attempted to impale the Boarbatusk in its face with her rapier, but the grimm swiftly turned its head and caught her weapon with its tusks.

"Bold new approach... I like it!" Professor Port cheered as the heiress and the grimm continued their brief game of tug of war before the Boarbatusk managed to break free and chuck Weiss's weapon across the room. Weiss briefly looked panicked as she leapt backwards and observed the grimm standing between her and her rapier.

"What will you do now, without a weapon?" Professor Port asked as the Boarbatusk rushed forward and leapt into the air at the heiress. With a swift movement, she rolled underneath the grimm and grabbed her weapon. She quickly scrambled to her feet and turned to face the Boarbatusk, which was now readying itself for another charge.

Weiss formed a strange looking white glyph underneath her body before she crouched and dashed forward, the circle boosting her speed and making her a blur. Weiss grunted as her weapon collided with the grimms face, a wound being slashed right under its left eye. The grimm quickly knocked her away, but the heiress kept her ground as she slid backwards.

"Go for it's belly Weiss, there's no armor on it!" Ruby called out from the sidelines, causing Weiss turn to her and give her a nasty glare.

The heiress shouted at her leader, "Stop telling me what to do!" before she returned her attention to the fight at hand. The Boarbatusk let out a snort before it curled itself into a ball once again, rolling in place to build up its speed. As if to match the move, Weiss formed another one of her strange glowing glyphs on the ground beneath her and launched herself off of it at the same time the Boarbatusk surged forward. The two clashed briefly, the Boarbatusks moment being reversed when Weiss impaled it with her rapier. The two combatants slid across the floor, the grimm squealing in agony along the way before its body fell limp.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Professor Port applauded as he stepped over to the heiress as she stood up and pulled her weapon from the decomposing grimms corpse. "It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" Weiss smiled for a moment before turning it into a harsh glare directed at Ruby. However, everyone was startled as the bell rang. Professor Port seemed to be saddened by this as he spoke with a hint of melancholy in his voice. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

After the Professor had dismissed them, Weiss let out a grunt as she briefly stopped by her desk to pick up her belongings. Everyone watched the heiress storm out of the room before Jaune turned to his own team. "Sheesh, what's with her?"

Blake and Ren simply shrugged before gathering their things, while Yang seemed to stare at her sister from across the room, a look of concern on her face as she stared at her sisters own look of concern. Jaune glanced back and forth between the two for a moment before getting up and patting his blonde teammate on the shoulder in an attempt to offer some sort of condolence.

As Jaune walked out of the class, he figured that he'd be lying to himself if he thought that he wasn't relieved over the fact that the school seemed to be a bit boring. After the initiation, he was starting to fear that every day would consist of throwing yourself into a dangerous grimm filled situation in an unsupervised environment. Sure, having a teacher sic a grimm on you during class was insane, but at least the teacher was there and ready to step in if the need arose. And the grimm wasn't a giant man eating scorpion, or a giant man eating bird.

"Oof!" Jaune let out a grunt as he was nearly knocked to the floor. Turning around, he saw that the a rather tall and thuggish looking brown haired teen had bumped into him.

"Watch where you're going, mutt." The boy growled as he turned to leave.

"Excuse me? What did you call me?" Jaune asked, wondering how someone like this guy would ever know about him being a wer- Faunus. Faunus is what he meant to think.

The boy stopped in his tracks and turned back to him, a scowl on his face. "I called you a mutt. You got a problem with that, dogboy?"

"How do you even know?"

The brown haired boy grinned slyly. "With those freakish teeth? Anyone would know." Jaune felt his heart race in panic for a moment, the reaction apparently showing on his own face as the brown haired boy's grin grew larger. "Plus, you fit the bill of a Faunus all right. Dirty looking, weak willed and skinny."

"That's not-" Jaune wasn't able to finish as he found himself being pushed away from the teen. The brown haired boy not even sparing him another word or glance as he walked away. "Jeez... what the hell is that guys problem?" He mumbled to himself before turning to go to his last class for the day.

* * *

The rest of Jaune's first day had gone particularly well, aside from the one bump in the road at the beginning. The second day proved to be going much better, as the brown haired thug that had heckled him the day before wasn't in any of his classes.

Jaune sat with the rest of his team, chatting casually with Yang as Ren and Blake seemed to be within their own little world. Ren seemed to be staring off into the distance, something that Jaune quickly picked up on. Following his partners gaze, he saw it was directed with the ginger that he had apparently wanted to be paired with. The ginger girl, Nora as he called her, was also staring back with a look of pain in her eyes. They must have been good friends, given the fact that they seemed to be so pained by their separation.

Blake was reading a book silently, the only noises the mysterious black haired girl would make were the occasional sounds of turning the page of the book. There was still something off about her to him. It was mostly with the way she acted now, even her smallest motions got his attention. He still couldn't pin down what it was about her specifically that made him uncomfortable, but sharing a room with her thusfar has proven to have helped. It's at least gotten him used to her presence.

"Ow! That hurts!"

Everyone turned to look at the source of the cry, their sights setting on the same brown haired bully that had been heckling Jaune earlier. He was pulling on the ears of a rabbit faunus girl, laughing with his team as he did so. "Please, stop..." She cried as she stopped attempting to resist.

"I told you it was real!" The bully laughed as he continued to pull harder.

"What a freak!" One of his crony friends shouted.

Jaune and the rest of his team turned their attention back to their plates, trying to ignore

"That's disturbing. Cardin Winchester is certainly a low-life." Ren muttered as he gazed back down towards his tray.

Blake glared at the bully and his team "He's not the only one..."

Yang continued glaring before her gaze glanced over to her leader. "It must be hard to be a Faunus." She stated before she began to idly pick at her food, her appetite vanishing.

"Yeah..." Jaune poked at his food, having lost his appetite as well. "You have no idea..."

"Jaune, why don't you go over there and stick up for her?" Yang questioned as she put down her fork. "You're a Faunus too, right?"

"Y-yeah..." Oh no, he was not getting roped into this. "But shouldn't she be sticking up for herself?"

Blake shot him a nasty glare. "Does it look like she's capable of doing so?"

"I mean, isn't she one of those second year students?" Jaune fired back. "And where is the rest of her team to help her out?"

Yang's eyes narrowed, her annoyance growing. "Dude. Are you really scared of that chump? You ripped a Nevermores throat out."

Jaune sighed. "No. I'm not scared." He shot the bully another quick glance. He was a little scared. But only a little. "I just don't like getting wrapped up in other peoples business."

Blake slammed her fist on the table, scooting forward as she did. "Are you kidding?! Do we seriously have a coward as a leader?" She covered her mouth after realizing what she said and slowly sunk back into her seat when everyone stared at her.

"I am afraid that I have to agree with Jaune on this one." Ren spoke out in his partners defense. "As awful as this is, it is up for the people being bullied to stand up for themselves. After all, if she is not capable of defending herself, then she should not be attending this school."

"Who cares about that? Racists like Cardin need to be dealt with in an orderly fashion, because they won't stop on their own."

"Stop." Jaune held up a hand, silencing his two teammates. "This isn't a conversation for here and now. We can always talk about it later." He lifted his tray off the ground and began walking away from the table. He stopped briefly and turned back to his team. "Our next class starts in ten, so we should probably head over there now." He turned and quickly left his team, not noticing the look of unease on each of their faces as he went off on his own.

After Jaune had disposed of his tray and gathered his belongings, the blonde waded through the cafeteria and exited, not noticing that he had caught a particular group of peoples eyes as he passed by, causing them to follow him as he left the building. Before he even knew what happened, Jaune found himself being pushed forward with an extreme amount of force.

He didn't even have time to stick his hands out to soften the impact. He hit the ground with a grunt, his face smashing into the curb with tremendous force. If it weren't for his aura, his skull would have most likely cracked and he would have lost consciousness to boot. Flipping himself over onto his back, the blonde glanced up at the four bullies who were just harassing the bunny girl from earlier.

"Looky here. The "Alpha" decided to be a lone wolf and ditch his team." Cardin taunted as he stepped on Jaune's chest, pressing his boot down with enough force to keep the blonde from getting up. "Why don't you do us all a favor and go hunt that bunny down, wolfy. Then that'll just leave us with one waste of space instead of two."

"What the hell is your problem?!" Jaune growled as he attempted to lift the boot off of his chest.

"My problem?" Cardin chuckled before lifting his boot off of his preys body. "My problem is that you don't belong in this school. This school's for people." He quickly kicked upwards into Jaune's chin, the impact sending the blondes head back into the floor. "And last I checked, animals aren't people. So do us all a favor, and leave."

Cardin finally lifted his boot completely off of the blonde before spitting on the ground beside him. As he turned to leave, the rest of his team followed in turn, jeering at the blonde who lay beaten on the ground in front of them. One of the individuals dumped out Jaune's bookbag on top of him for good measure, something that earned him a pat on the back from his friends as they continued walking.

After the coast was clear, Jaune slowly picked himself up off the ground and dusted himself off. He would certainly be feeling that last kick in the morning, that was for sure. But he would worry about it later, his next class was starting soon and he needed to get his belongings and go.

"Jaune?" He froze up at his name being called out. Looking up, he saw the amber eyes of Blake studying him. "What happened?"

"Oh. It's nothing." He lied, continuing to pick up his belongings. "Just tripped and spilled all my school supplies everywhere."

She stared at him silently for a moment, continuing to study him. She noticed the particularly large bruise under his chin that was quickly healing thanks to his aura, her eyes narrowing as she did so. "What happened to your chin?"

"This?" He rubbed the spot, wincing a bit as his hand brushed against it. "Landed chin-first on the floor. You know me, reflexes of a sloth. Maybe I'm not a wolf faunus after all... heh..."

"...Right." Blake glanced down at her feet, noticing a pencil case that had opened and spilled its contents around her. Bending down, she quickly gathered the writing utensils up before quickly stuffing them in the case. She handed her leader it, earning his gratitude as he stowed it in his backpack.

"Guess we should head to class now." He suggested, Blake nodding in agreement before they began to head down the hall towards the history classroom.

* * *

As Jaune sat in the classroom, listening to his Professor rant on about... something Faunus related, he found the world slowly fading to black as his head began slumping onto the desk. Try as he might, he just couldn't keep himself awake. Professor Ooblecks ramblings were even more boring than Professor Ports. Not even the professors constant zipping around the room could keep Jaune entertained enough for him to stay awake. The last thing he picked up before he faded into dreamland was something about a Faunus advantage over... someone.

Blake meanwhile, was furiously taking notes before the sound of light snoring broke her rhythm and caused her to glance over to the sleeping blonde next to her. Rolling her eyes, she glanced over at her own blonde partner, only to be shocked when she saw that Yang was wide awake and taking down notes of her own. Albeit, she was having difficulty doing so, but she was at least trying. With a small grunt, Blake took her pencil and jabbed her leader in the arm with it, causing the blonde to shoot up and let out a yelp.

"Mr. Arc!" Professor Oobleck called out, zipping in front of the blonde. "Finally contributing to class! Excellent! What is the answer?"

"Uhhhh... The answer... The advantage... of the Faunus..." Jaune sifted through his head in an attempt to find the answer, but that was something that he realized was impossible. "...had over that guy's stuff..." He simply didn't know the answer. He wasn't a faunus, and he certainly didn't do any research on faunus history at any point in his life. He let out a sigh before slumping in his chair. "I uh... I don't know, sir."

Professor Oobleck cocked an eyebrow as he stared at him. "...Really, Mr. Arc? You don't know?" Oobleck continued to stare at him for longer then what could be considered comfortable, the only thing breaking the professors gaze was the noise of Cardin Winchester busting a gut from his seat. "Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"

Cardin straightened his back momentarily before leaning in his chair casually. "Well, I was gonna say that it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier, but I guess Jaune proved that's not true."

While Professor Oobleck looked to the floor and shook his head in annoyance, Pyrrha turned in her seat, glaring at the brown haired thug. "You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?"

Cardin returned the glare, moving forward in his seat as he brought his fist down on his desk. "What? You got a problem?"

"No, but I do have an answer! It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark."

"General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep." Blake suddenly spoke out, all eyes turning to her as she continued. "His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured." She briefly turned her head and glared at Cardin. "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." Before turning to gaze to her leader, Jaune. But her attention was drawn back to Cardin's seat as the bully pushed his chair back and stood up, his fist raised and clenched hard as he glared between Pyrrha and Blake.

"Mr. Winchester!" Professor Oobleck shouted, causing the teen to freeze in place. "Please take your seat." Upon gazing at the smirk that was plastered firmly on Jaune's face, the professor shot the young man an equally annoyed look. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings."

Jaune let out a sigh as his head flopped back down onto the desk for a moment before he lifted it back up and nodded. The class went by quickly after that, with no more outbursts from Cardin to distract the Professor, he continued his ramblings on Faunus history. While Jaune had trouble keeping up at first, he managed to discover that it was easier to just write down the important parts and cut out all the unimportant words that could just be filled in later.

Once classes ended and the students began to leave, the rest of team JLYB began making their way out the door. Yang quickly noticed however, that Blake had stopped just outside of the classroom and was standing there silently. "Yo Blake, you comin?"

Blake glanced over at Yang before nodding her head to the doorway. "I'm going to wait for Jaune."

"Aaw! That's so sweet!" Yang gushed as she pushed her cheeks together. "Making sure he's okay?"

"Sort of. I'm actually curious about something, and I'm waiting to find out the answer."

"Is it how his lips taste?" Yang quipped, earning a hard glare from her teammate. "Yeesh, take it easy. It was a joke. We'll be waiting for you guys in combat class." She finished before turning to walk away, offering a wave from behind as she walked down the hall.

As Blake continued to stand outside of the classroom and wait for her leader, she began to think back to what had been said in class. Jaune didn't know about his own night vision. How did he not know of his own heritages biological traits? Did nobody ever teach him? That was extremely strange, even if he had apparently spent most of his life in an isolated area. Blake's thoughts were pushed aside when a blur zipped out of the room past her, a dejected Jaune following slowly after it. As she went to open her mouth, she watched as Cardin's arm violently shoved her team leader to the ground. With a scowl, the bully stepped on the blondes back before he walked off, chuckling all the way.

"I knew it was him." Blake stated as she watched Jaune pick himself up off the ground. "He kicked you in front of the mess hall too, didn't he?"

"Who, Cardin? Nah, that was just an accident." Jaune lied as he stood up and stretched.

Blake scowled at her leader. "An accident? Are you joking? That racist bigot has his sights set on you. You're a target."

"Look Blake, this is just a big misunder-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." She interrupted. "You need to put a stop to this now. You said it yourself, either you need to deal with it, or your teammates will."

"Blake..." He scratched the side of his head nervously. "I don't do things like that, and I don't need help either. He'll get bored of it eventually."

"He won't stop, Jaune." Blake grit her teeth and glared at her leader. "Not until you either leave this school or die in it." With a final grunt in annoyance, she turned and walked away from him.

Jaune let out a sigh before he followed his teammate. "I guess they'll never be able to understand..." He mumbled to himself as he walked to combat class. Hopefully the rest of his second day wouldn't turn out to be a flop. Because then that leads to a third flop, then a fourth, and before you know it your entire four years are a flop.

* * *

Jaune watched as Yang slammed Weiss Schnee in the face with her elbow, sending the small heiress flying out of the ring with enough force to crack the wall when she collided with it. The heiress slumped to her knees with a frustrated growl, glaring at the blonde before she picked herself up and dusted herself off. The match was intense, and he certainly feared both women equally. He was glad at least one of them ended up on his team, but if Yang was that fierce, then how fierce was Blake when pushed to her limit? He had already seen Ren's sizeable power, and that involved blowing up a giant snakes head.

"That was a very close match, Ms. Schnee and Ms. Xiao Long." Glynda stated as she stared at her scroll, paragraphs of data flowing onto it. "Ms. Schnee, I see that you have trouble with your stamina. You are a dangerous fighter, but you quickly run out of breath. I advise fixing this issue, perhaps then you will be able to defeat Ms. Xiao Long." Glynda then turned to Yang. "And Ms. Xiao Long, while I understand that your temper is something that adds to your semblance, you must learn to control it. There were many opportunities for Ms. Schnee to counter attack you. I dare say that there were so many that she figured you were simply baiting her into attacking for a counter blow."

The two combatants nodded before leaving the ring. As the two of them exited the room and went to change back into their school uniforms, Glynda stepped into the center of the ring. "Well class, I believe we have time for at least two more fights." She quickly waved her finger over her scroll, causing a roulette to appear on the giant screens situated above the ring. "Let's see who we get, shall we?"

As the roulette wheel spun, Jaune began to idly tap his fingers. Combat class was by far the most entertaining, but there was always the chance that he was picked to fight in the ring. And that was something he certainly didn't want to do any time soon-

"Jaune Arc."

"Dammit." He cursed to himself as he leaned forward. He prayed to whatever gods may exist that he was matched up against someone he would actually stand a chance against. Knowing his luck, he would probably get someone from team RSNN. Like Pyrrha. Who he later found out was a world famous gladiator who had won three tournaments in a row. Or something to that effect.

"And Cardin Winchester."

"OH COME ON!" Jaune shouted in his head, his gaze darting to his opponent in question. Cardin had a sly grin on his face as he rose to his feet and glanced over at him. Te bully quickly brought his thumb across his throat before walking off to the locker room. Jaune let out a nervous sigh as he began dragging himself to the locker room as well.

Jaune stepped out of the locker room and into the ring, his sword and shield clutched tightly in his hands.

"I'm going to destroy you in front of everyone." Cardin whispered in his ear as he walked by and stood on his side of the ring.

Jaune gulped nervously as he stepped out onto his side, the two of them turning to face each other in a prone position. Glynda Goodwitch glanced between the two of them for a brief moment before she signaled the matches start.

Cardin surged forward and swung his mace diagonally downwards at Jaune, forcing the blonde to block with his shield. The force of the crushing blow nearly knocked the shield clean from his hand, forcing Jaune to back up a bit and gain some distance. But Cardin refused to give him that luxury, as he stepped forward and reversed the maces direction. Jaune blocked the blow and let the momentum balance his stance out, allowing him to recover quickly enough to create an opening in Cardin's defenses. Jaune quickly stabbed his sword forward, the blade poking his opponents platemail while also simultaneously damaging his aura. Cardin let out a growl as he lifted his foot and kicked Jaune in the stomach, sending the boy stumbling backwards.

Cardin followed up by dashing to Jaune, his mace cracking the blonde across the face when it was within reach. Jaune wasn't even allowed the luxury of falling before the mace came back around and hit him again. Then it reversed directions one more time and struck his face once more before his body was sent spiraling to the ground. He quickly rolled out of the way of Cardin's boot as it came stomping down where his head had previously been. With one swift movement, Jaune hopped back onto his feet and rushed forward again, slamming his shield up against Cardin in an attempt to create an opening.

The attack successfully forced Cardin's weapon wielding arm away from his body, allowing Jaune to get in a few slashes directed at the bullies chest. Jaune quickly dodged to the side, avoiding another swing from Cardin's mace. The blonde rushed forward again, slamming his shield right into his opponents face with a loud clang. Cardin let out a growl as he pushed himself forward, his knee extending up towards Jaune at an incredible speed.

Jaune took the knee in his gut and crumpled to the floor, dropping his weapons as he felt the urge to vomit from the attack. Cardins laughter rang out from all around him, as if the room had an echo. As he tried to struggle to his feet, he felt Cardin bend down next to him, his brutish form dwarfing the blonde. With a snide grin, Jaune's opponent began to further taunt him.

"Y'know, I think that we shoulda left all you dirty animals back on Menagerie. Being locked in a cage is where you all belong, anyway. Or maybe..." Cardin stood up, stomping a foot down on Jaune's back as he did. "Maybe the Schnee Dust Company has the right idea. Maybe we SHOULD enslave you fleabitten freaks."

Jaune felt something inside him snap. All at once, he felt his entire body tense up with a surge of adrenaline. And anger. So much anger.

"MISTER WINCHESTER!" Glynda raised her crop as she began to step onto the ring. "Your mouth has run for far too-"

The crowd watched as Jaune threw Cardin off of his back, the blonde seemingly getting a burst of energy as he stood up. Cardin stumbled backwards but managed to keep his balance, his smug smile vanishing when he noticed Jaune's posture. Jaune was crouched, his eyes glowing an unnatural bright blue as he stepped forward. The blonde hadn't even reached down to pick up his weapons, instead rushing at his opponent with a speed that seemed to rival Ruby when she used her semblance.

Cardin swiped horizontally with his mace, the attack missing as Jaune ducked underneath it. Jaune quickly brought his hand up, his fingers quickly forming a claw-like shape as his nails grew longer. He jabbed forward, aiming at the exposed area just underneath Cardin's breastplate. Jaune felt his nails crash against his opponents aura, the energy nearly forcing his nails to all snap off. With a snarl, Jaune pushed harder and harder until either Cardin's aura gave out, or his nails did.

"AAAGH!" Cardin cried out as he felt something sharp stab into his gut. With a sickening rip, he felt the small knife-like nails jerk themselves to the right, the pain continuing up until he felt the nails leave his body altogether. Cardin stumbled backwards and glanced down at his opponent and froze. He gazed into the eyes of Jaune Arc and realized that the scrawny, weak blonde that he had been mercilessly pummeling had all but vanished from those blue pools.

And something much fiercer, angrier and more importantly feral had entered them instead. Cardin didn't even move an inch when another claw swiped upwards at his face, the nails dragging themselves up his cheeks before the force of the attack knocked him onto his back.

Jaune took a step forward, the scent of blood filling his nostrils. "MISTER ARC!" He felt his facial features twisting into a grin as he straightened out his claws and snarled. "MISTER ARC!" He took a final step forward and stood over his now defeated opponent, savoring the fear on Cardins face as he stared up at him. And then all at once, he felt his body become heavy. Extremely heavy, as if someone was pushing down on him. His muscles began fighting against the weight, but it soon became more than he could bare, forcing him onto one knee as the ground around him began to splinter and crack.

"THAT IS ENOUGH, MISTER ARC!" Glynda shouted as she held her riding crop out in front of her, her semblance weighting the blonde boy down. She couldn't help notice the amount of trouble she had until she pressed down with a good portion of her strength. What kind of student was this that was hiding such power? "Mister Winchester is out!" Glynda stated as she glanced at the blondes hands, which were now dripping with blood. "Good lord..." She mumbled to herself before she used her semblance to push the blonde further away, causing him to land on his back harmlessly with a thud.

Jaune slowly scrambled to his feet, holding his head with a hand as he stumbled around as if he were in a drunken stupor. "Wha...what happened?" He mumbled to himself as he glanced around the ring, not noticing anyone else in the room.

"Mister Winchester, are you alright?" Glynda asked as she ran over to the injured student. Before she could even crouch down to examine the boy, he shot up to his feet and began backing away from Arc.

"Ke-keep that animal away from me! I told you those freaks should be all locked up, or else they do THIS to you!" Cardin shouted as he removed his hands from his body, revealing large cuts that ran along the side of his stomach and up his face. The cuts on his stomach were particularly nasty, as they were leaking a steady stream of blood. Not enough to endanger his life, but certainly enough to cause alarm.

Glynda let out a sigh before she looked up at the rosters, seeing all of her students with a look of shock and fear on their faces as they gazed into the ring. "Class is dismissed early today. Mister Thrush, would you and your team please escort your leader to the nurses office?" Glynda turned her attention to the blonde in front of her, who was now gazing at her in confusion and shock. Her gaze quickly hardened into a fierce glare as she spoke to him. "Mister Arc. My office. NOW."

Jaune sat in Glynda Goodwitches office. He had lost himself to the werewolf yet again. The beast broke free for a brief moment and nearly killed one of his classmates. Sure, Cardin was a jerkoff of the highest quality, but he didn't deserve to be ripped to shreds. He wasn't even sure why he was so upset at the bullies insults, he wasn't a Faunus after all. There wasn't a middle ground with him, he was either a human or a werewolf. Just because a few features of the wolf carried over to his human form didn't make him a Faunus like he claimed to be. But that wasn't important, what was important is that he lost control. And he had to find a way to wrestle it back, permanently.

"You have only been here for two days, and already you have injured a student with the intent to harm them." Glynda stated as she glared at the blonde, causing him to avert his gaze. Observing his facial features, her student seemed to have a mixture of emotions on his face. Fear, shame and anxiety were the easiest to pick out. Glynda stared at him for a moment longer before sighing. She couldn't blame the boy, he was a faunus and Winchester was provoking him severely.

"Mr. Arc, I understand that racism is something that should not be taken lightly, but attacking another student so savagely will not be ignored." Glynda stated as she gave the blonde boy a stern glare. "You must learn to control your temper. I will not have a ticking time bomb of a student that might go off on his sparring partner if they make crude comments about his race. You are here to learn to be a huntsman, and you will act appropriately, do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am." he replied, his gaze focused on the floor.

"Very good." Glynda's features softened for a moment. "You seem to at least regret what you have done, am I correct?"

"Yes ma'am... I really don't know what happened. I just... heard him talking about all those things and... everything went all hazy for a moment." Jaune explained as he scratched the back of his head. "Like, I was aware that I was still fighting him... but something in my head was telling me that it was the right thing to do."

"I see. Perhaps maybe you should pay a visit to the nurse as well." Glynda suggested before she looked down at her desk, a copy of the boys transcripts lying in front of her. "As much as I would like to give this a pass, Mr. Arc, you did quite the number on Mr. Winchester. His injuries are merely a few deep scratches, but I cannot let this go unpunished. Community service in Vale, for a week."

Jaune nodded glumly before rubbing his face with his right hand. "I deserve it. Where will I be going?"

"I will let you choose from a list. We always have one handy and update it regularly in case such an event occurs that warrants it." She quickly procured a paper from the drawer on her desk and handed it to him.

"Oh..." Jaune looked at the piece of paper that he had been handed. "Thank you, that's really nice of you to do, Professor." As he looked down the list, one in particular stood out as not a horrible experience for a week. "Alright... This one here." He stated as he pointed to number twelve on the list.

"Very well then." Glynda adjusted her glasses before turning to her computer, her fingers tapping away at the keyboard. "You will start tomorrow after your last class, and you will come back to campus just before curfew."

"I understand."

"Do you need directions, Mister Arc? That store is located in downtown Vale, and I understand you are from Mistral."

"No, it's okay." Jaune stated as he held up a hand. "I was actually here in Vale for a few weeks before initiation day. I know my way around enough."

"Very well then." Glynda turned her attention back to her computer. "You are dismissed."

* * *

Blake stood just outside Professor Goodwitch's office, listening in on their conversation. She quickly took a few steps away from the door when she heard the conversation nearing its end.

"Blake!" She jumped a little at her name being called, turning to see Yang running towards her. "I heard about what happened in class. That's freakin' crazy! I knew our leader had it in him!" The blonde cheered as she pumped a fist.

"Yang. Jaune may have seriously injured Cardin." Blake paused for a moment and processed the words she just spoke. "...And yes he may have deserved it, Jaune still got in trouble over it. And it's only been two days since we started school."

Both of them quickly shut their mouths as the door to Goodwitch's office opened, their blonde leader stepping out of it quietly before he shut the door behind him. Jaune glanced over at the two of his teammates and let out an annoyed sigh.

"Yo, Jaune! Heard about how you messed Cardin up!" Yang stated with a grin. "Glad to see you finally followed my advice!"

"Followed your advice?" Jaune repeated as his eyes narrowed. "Yang. I ripped Cardin's skin open. There was a ton of blood."

Yang blinked a few times as her cheery attitude vanished. "Oh... did you...?"

"He'll be fine." Jaune grit his teeth. "This never would have happened if I was just allowed to ignore him. If everyone didn't push me..."

"Oh come on, don't be like-"

"You guys told me to stand up for myself, and I said no." Jaune folded his arms across his chest. "Now maybe you see why I didn't want to."

"I get that." Yang rubbed her arm nervously. "It's just... you can't let people walk all over you like that."

"And what if he comes back and tries it again? What if I hurt him even more? What if I kill him?" Jaune lowered his head. "I don't have control over my instincts like I thought I did."

"Instincts?" Blake questioned as she pushed herself off the wall. "I understand that Faunus have a few... natural instincts, but none that would make them lose control over themselves."

"Yeah well, my instincts work differently from most Faunus." Jaune stated bluntly as he turned away from them. "Maybe I just need to find some kind of outlet to use them on..." He mumbled to himself as he turned back around. "I've got community service for a week starting tomorrow in downtown Vale. I start immediately after the last class up until curfew."

"Aw man! That sucks!" Yang pouted as she walked up to his side. "Don't worry, Jaune. I'll make sure to save most of the fun for when you get done with your sentence!"

Jaune smirked as the two began walking off. "Heh, thanks, Yang. But I'm not going to jail."

"Might as well be!"

The two shared a brief laugh, not noticing that Blake had yet to begin following them.

The black haired girl leaned back against the wall, observing her leader as he walked away. What kind of Faunus instincts were so prominent, so feral that they couldn't be suppressed? And how dangerous was Jaune really? What kind of beast was he hiding that had him scared to retaliate against another person who was trying to harm him? She had heard of a few examples of Faunus being feral before, but there were only normal Faunus and feral ones. There was no middle ground. How had he supposedly found some when there was none?

Blake briefly hummed to herself before she pushed off of the wall once more and began following her teammates back to their room. Perhaps she would eventually find an answer.

Tomorrow was another day, after all.


	4. Chapter 3 - Community Conundrum

Today's lunch was an extremely awkward one. Not because of what Jaune did to Cardin yesterday, however. The cause for the awkwardness present during todays lunch was the fact that team JLYB had been joined by one of the members of team RSNN, namely Nora Valkyrie. The ginger sat at the table with the rest of them, chatting away into Ren's ear, blissfully unaware of the odd stares she was receiving from her friends teammates.

"-and then we sold all the pelts and made a fortune! We made so much that we could retire!" The ginger finished as she threw her hands up in the air.

"That is a very fascinating dream, Nora." Ren responded before glancing down at his tray. "...However, as much as it bothers me to ask this, why are you sitting over here with us?"

"What? I can't sit with my bestest friend in the whole world?"

"...It has only been three days since school started. Wouldn't it be better to sit with your team and get to know them more?"

"...Yeah... But..." Nora lost her smile as she turned to look at her team. "They're sorta..."

Everyone else turned to follow her gaze, the rest of team RSNN sitting at their table silently eating their food. Ruby attempted to say something entertaining, which seemed to get a small chuckle out of Pyrrha. Weiss however, seemed less then amused. She shot her leader a quick glare before she picked up her tray and moved to an empty table across the cafeteria. In response, the redhead and her leader both slumped over in their seats and began to silently pick at their food.

"...Perhaps you are right." Ren finished as they all turned back to their own table. Once again, Nora began to chat away mindlessly as the rest of them ate.

Jaune couldn't help but notice however, that Yang continued to stare over at the other teams table. The blonde brawler stared at her little sister with a look of sorrow on her face. Jaune let out a sigh as he continued picking at what was left of his food.

Meanwhile, one Pyrrha Nikos glanced down at her tray with a blank stare, a wave of negative emotions washing over her as Weiss stormed off. "I'm sorry, Ruby." She apologized, offering her leader a small smile. "I thought it was funny."

"Thanks, Pyrrha..." Ruby responded as she idly poked her glob of mashed potatoes with a spoon, causing the mass to wobble back and forth. "I just don't get it... Why don't they like us?"

"I... don't think it's that they don't like us, Ruby. I mean, Nora seemed okay after we calmed her down."

"Yeah..." Ruby stabbed her spoon into the mass. "But now she just hangs out with team JLYB whenever she gets the chance."

"Well..." Pyrrha fiddled with her own spoon for a moment. "She did have a very strong relationship with that Ren fellow..."

"Oh yeah?" Ruby shoved a mouthful of potatoes into her maw, not bothering to swallow as she began talking. "Well I was close to my sister! I wanted her on my team! I didn't get her! You don't see me clinging to her like a... a... ZIT!"

Pyrrha flinched as a bit of Ruby's food flew out of her mouth and onto her own face. "I understand that, Ruby. But you have to be patient. She'll come around eventually, I'm sure." She quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped her cheek clean.

"And what about Weiss?" Ruby glanced over at the table where the heiress had situated herself, noting that her partner gazed into her tray with sorrowfully empty eyes. "I don't think she'll come around... She hates me..."

"Aaah... well... she's not that bad. She tries to be friendly, at least."

"That's only because you're some kinda superwoman and she wants to get on your good side." Ruby pouted as she leaned her chin on the table. She waited for Pyrrha to offer a response, but when she heard nothing she decided to continue. "...Pyrrha... do YOU like me?"

Pyrrha's eyes went wide as she stared at Ruby in shock. "Of course I like you!"

"What do you like about me?"

"Well... I... You..." The redhead thought for a moment before settling on an answer. "I can't say much, because we've only known each other for a few days. But... you remind me of... uh... someone... that I met." She held a hand out, patting her team leader on the head. "I think we're going to be great friends, Ruby. So please don't worry about that."

Both of them jumped in their seats when the school bell rang. As Ruby straightened herself out, she noticed that she had barely eaten any of her food besides a few spoonfuls of potatoes. With a whimper, she picked up her tray and trudged over to the garbage. She would have to go the rest of the day without lunch. That was going to be tough.

* * *

The rest of the day passed by normally for team JLYB, the teams classes went by completely unhindered and Jaune soon hurried over to downtown Vale for his community service.

Cardin was now afraid of Jaune, which the blonde was half happy and half sad of what he had done. To make matters worse, the Beacon Rumor Mill quickly spiraled out of control, with so many rumors flooding the campus on his fight with the bully. Some stated that he was some kind of Faunus who was slipping into a feral state, while others were saying he was secretly part of something called the "White Fang" and he was taking out his frustration on his human oppressors. Almost all of the rumors ended with him trying to murder Cardin though. Well, not even he was certain if he had really tried to murder Cardin or not. That fight was still just a haze to him.

"Punish this welp." He remembered the words clearly. In a voice that was his own, yet different. "Establish dominance. Make an example." The words flashed through his mind once again, the ruthless savagery practically dripping from his own voice like saliva from a drooling, starved hound. He had never heard his instincts lash out in such a way, so thirsty for a kill. While before he considered his little incidents in the Emerald Forest a fluke, now he was certain that something was wrong.

As he continued to walk down the streets of Vale, his mind was lost in a sea of questions. Why were his werewolf traits suddenly emerging again? What exactly could he do about that, if anything? Was dad right? Was the wolf truly impossible to permanently suppress? Should he fight such a creature? Was there a way to dampen its sphere of influence on his every day life? If there was, what could he do and how could he do it without exposing himself? There were so many of them. And he had no answers at all.

The closest thing he had to an answer on any of them was that perhaps he could always take a run through the forests around Beacon whenever the werewolf inside wanted to be out. But that in itself posed two major risks, both of them Grimm related. What would happen if he was attacked by Grimm? Werewolves were durable, so durable that he read myths describing them as being immortal while in their werewolf form. His father put an end to that rumor by telling him that while they could be considered nearly unkillable, they were still only NEARLY.

And the second major risk that came with running through the forests around Beacon? It was a school designed to train monster hunters. And a Werewolf was most certainly something that was considered a monster. And with the Emerald Forest being so close by, it would be incredibly easy for someone to mistake him for a Beowulf, despite the major differences such as fur color and the strange masks and bones that Grimm often sported.

He let out a heavy sigh as he came up to the building named Tukson's Book Trade. He was no closer to figuring out anything about himself, but maybe doing some work would clear his head up enough to do so. Or maybe one of the books would give him a good idea to try out.

Jaune pushed the door open and slowly walked into the bookstore, the musty smell of old books flooding into his nostrils. It was a scent that reminded him of Mistral, of his times spent in the local library. There was a certain smell to books that triggered so many good memories. They also dug up a few bad ones, usually the ones where the bullies would find him in his usual spot. He had to begin switching things up after that, finding new spots in the library to hide just in case any of his usual tormentors did their rounds. His eyes continued to gaze around the room, briefly pausing when they settled upon a rack of comic books. Perhaps they would have the newest issue of X-Ray and Vav?

He came to a stop in front of the main counter, gazing at the bookshelf behind it that was stacked to the brim with even more literature. Some of the tomes looked quite old as well, perhaps signifying that they were rare and ancient.

"Can I help you?" A voice snapped Jaune to attention as he looked ahead, a tall man with short well-trimmed black hair and two very... prominent black sideburns stood behind the counter. Jaune was taken by surprise for a moment before he cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Uh... Yeah, I uh... I'm Jaune Arc. I'm from Beacon Academy, here for my community service?"

The mans eyes lit up, his posture straightening as he stood to his full height. "Ooh, you're that Faunus kid I was told about." He held out a hand, a warm smile lining his face as he did. "Name's Tukson. But I guess you'll be calling me Boss for the next week, huh?"

"Tukson?" Jaune repeated as he shook the mans hand. "As in, the guy who the shops named after?"

"The one and the same!" Tukson boasted as he let go of Jaune's hand.

"Wow! That's cool!" Jaune's thoughts paused for a moment though. How did Tukson know he was a Faunus? "Uh, if you don't mind me asking sir, how did you know I was a Faunus?"

Tukson frowned, his gaze turning towards the floor. "Your school told me. Everyone does it these days. Treating it like we're pedophiles moving into a new neighborhood or something. It's disgusting."

Jaune's face softened a bit as he averted his gaze from his new boss. Was Faunus racism really that bad still? Even with all the treaties and everything that Oobleck talked about?

"But let's not talk about stuff like that. Why don't I show you around your new work space?" The older man beckoned the blonde behind the counter, leading him into the back room. As the two of the gazed around, books of varying sizes lined many of the shelves along the walls of the room. Boxes found themselves scattered in all different places, books filling them up to the brim as well. "So, your job is gonna be pretty simple. I'll give you a list of what books need to be put out on display, and you come back here and move them to their proper place out front. The shelves in both places are sorted by genre first, then by alphabetical order."

Tukson jabbed a thumb towards the room that was behind him, the open doorway allowing Jaune to see a small kitchen inside. "That's the break room. You'll get thirty minutes a day. You can use em all at once, take two fifteens, three tens, whatever you want." Tukson nodded his head towards the door across from the kitchen. "That over there is the restroom. Wash your hands when you're done in there. And that about does it for the grand tour."

Jaune remained silent as he soaked all of this information into his brain. He glanced towards the shelves lining the walls, only to notice another door that he had missed previously. One of the shelves was in front of it, the door itself only just barely visible. "What's up with that door, sir?" Jaune asked as he pointed towards it.

Tukson went quiet for a moment, his lips pursing as he glanced at the door for a brief moment before turning to Jaune. "Nothing. It used to be the break room before, but I had everything moved to the new one."

"So you just have a room that isn't being used? How come?"

Tukson's body seemed to stiffen for a moment as his eyes glazed over the door. "Just because. That room doesn't have a use anymore, so let's just get back on the topic that matters." Tukson guided the blonde back out to the counter, pointing him towards the register. "If I'm not here to run the checkout, make sure you fill in for me, alright? Even if that means dropping whatever you're doing. Customers always come first."

"Got it!" Jaune replied with a smirk.

"Good!" Tukson placed his hand on a stack of boxes. "These books need to go out behind the counter. I need to sort through them myself for a few special shipments, so be very careful with them, alright?"

Jaune quickly hopped over to the stack and picked up the first box. "You got it sir!" He responded as he began carrying said box out of the room.

"Heh..." Tukson smiled as he watched his new employee work. "Good kid. Wonder what he did to get himself in so much trouble though?"

* * *

"WHAT?!"

Blake let out a sigh. "I said I'm going into Vale today."

Yang's shoulders slumped as the she plopped onto her bed, a look of defeat on her face. "Why?"

"Because." Blake began, "I'm heading down to pick up a few new books."

"What, is Ninjas of Love not satisfying you?" Yang's smirk grew into a large grin when she saw the panic well up in her partners eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Aw come on, Blakey. I've seen it under your bed. I even looked it up online, and it's some pretty saucy stuff." Yang wiggled her eyebrows to add to the effect.

"Ninjas?" Ren asked, turning his chair around so that he could face the two of them. "I admit, I'm a bit of a fan of martial arts myself. Perhaps I could-"

"NO." Blake half-yelled before slapping a hand over her mouth. "I mean... no, you'd probably hate it." She briefly shot her blonde partner a heavy glare, mostly due to the fact that she was now lying on her back with a hand over her mouth as well in an attempt to stifle her laughter. "But yes, I am heading into town for a few new books."

Yang sat back up, her grin not faltering. "Any of them on how to seduce blonde team leaders?"

"...What?"

"Don't play dumb, Blake. I've seen the way you've been staring at our leader lately."

Blake placed a hand on her hip. "With my eyes?"

"Oh yeah. Those eyes of yours have been on him a lot."

"No more than any of my other teammates." Blake stated as she glanced towards Ren. "But if you want to want to go by that flawed logic, I guess that means I'm also attracted to you and Ren." She added, hoping that it would shut her partner up.

However, much to Blake's chagrin, it had the opposite effect. "Wooooah. A team fourway? That's kinky as hell, Blake." Yang said as she placed a finger on her chin. "Maybe I could get into that, though. With enough seducing." She added with a grin.

The only response the blonde was met with was the sound of the door slamming behind Blake. With a heavy sigh, Yang flopped back onto her bed. She blankly stared up into the ceiling for what seemed like hours. Today was a boring day for the blonde. Her partner going into Vale for BOOKS of all things and her leader also in Vale due to community service left her with nothing to do. She could always go out on her own, but what fun was that? She let out a loud sigh before shutting her eyes.

There was nobody else around that would want to do anything with her. She could possibly see if Ruby wanted to maybe do something with- Wait no, she couldn't. Ruby had her own team to deal with right now, and while that didn't mean she couldn't still spend time with her sister, it was certainly the last thing that they should do. Ruby needed to focus on becoming friends with her teammates. Yang figured she had already had that down enough with her own team... Okay, she had it down with Jaune and Blake. Sort of.

Her train of thought was derailed when she heard the sound of a book closing. Opening her eyes, the blonde turned her head in the direction of the noise and saw that her other teammate, Ren, was still sitting at their desk. He carefully placed the book to his side before grabbing another and opening it. Within seconds of opening the book, his pencil began to scribble down markings on the paper in front of him. Yang watched her teammate for a few moments, thinking about what she knew about him. She knew that he was practically a mute, only speaking when the situation called for it. And she knew that he had some kind of relationship with Nora, most likely an intimate one if the two of them were so broken up about being separated. But that was where her knowledge on the subject of Lie Ren ended.

With an extra loud and extra forced yawn, Yang pushed herself up and off her bed before she walked over to her teammate, leaning an arm on his head as she peaked over his work. "Hey there, Renny. Whatcha doin?"

If Ren was bothered by the blonde's weight pressing down on him, he didn't show it. "Hello, Yang. Just finishing up a few assignments for Doctor Ooblecks class."

"Doctor? Isn't he a Professor?"

"He prefers to be called Doctor. I believe it has something to do with his PHD."

Yang blew a raspberry. "What does he even have a PHD in? Coffee brewing?" Ren softly chuckled at the joke, causing Yang to grin. She hadn't heard him laugh at anything since they met, and making people laugh was always a good first step in initiating friendships.

"I don't think so." He responded. "He didn't actually say what it was if I remember correctly."

"Hmm..." Yang hummed as she continued glancing over his shoulder. "So... after you finish that up, how about we do something?"

Ren didn't respond, his silence making the blonde uncomfortable as he closed the book he has just opened. He turned and flashed her a very small smile. "What did you have in mind?"

"Oh. Uh..." Yang turned as she began to scan the room. "Gotta be honest, I didn't think that far ahead." She stated as her eyes settled upon the TV in the room. A few gears started turning in her head as her eyes drifted towards the two video game controllers that were sitting right next to the television.

"And I think I just thought of an idea." She stated as her mouth contorted into a wicked grin.

* * *

Blake entered the store and quickly made her way to her little spot in the back. She had been coming to this store regularly since she arrived in Vale a few months ago, and she liked to go to the very back to get her reading done. The store was generally never that busy, and the quiet atmosphere did her mind good. She didn't dislike Beacon's library, but this was a place that allowed her to completely get away from the campus in its entirety. It allowed her to free herself from all the burdens that came with school and training, if only temporarily.

With a few books in hand, she made her way onto the particularly large beanbag chair that was in the corner and unceremoniously plopped down onto it. Reaching down, she picked up the first book of her small stack and opened it, savoring the sounds of the books spine crackling softly. The scent of paper washed over her nostrils as her eyes drifted to the beginning of this new tale. Both of these things would go unnoticed by most, only those who truly appreciate books could also savor the sounds and scents of a new book being opened for the first time.

Her world of bliss was pushed away from her for a moment however, as the sounds of panic filled her ears. Tilting her eyes up, she caught the sight of numerous books falling to the floor along with a confused young mans cry. She rolled her eyes for a brief moment before returning to her book. Tukson was one to keep to himself, something that extended to his shop as well. He rarely ever hired new employees, he preferred doing all the work himself. This new one was already proving to be another short lived worker with that little stunt.

Blake continued with her reading undisturbed for quite some time. She could have possibly finished half of her first book if she wanted to, but she considered reading a book while in the store to be akin to stealing. Her philosophy was to read the first chapter or two and gauge her interest in it from there. If she liked it, she would consider buying it. If not, it would go back on the shelf and she would find another. With a satisfied smile, she closed the book she was reading and placed it on the stack she had built up. Of the five books, she picked three in particular that she would be purchasing.

She stood up and placed the other two books back where she found them before picking up the three that she planned on purchasing. Strangely enough, she found that nobody seemed to be around the store. Not even the new employee that she had briefly heard before. Her eyes drifted down to the small metal bell that was on the counter, her hand lightly tapping the top of it to produce a ringing sound. There was a loud bumping sound that shook the entire counter in response.

"OW! Son of a-" Jaune growled as he quickly got out from underneath the counter, a book gripped in his hand. "I mean uh, welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun. How can I help you, AAGH!" Jaune shouted and leapt backwards, ending up in the doorway behind the counter. Both of them stared at each other blankly for a moment before Jaune shook his senses loose and stepped back towards the counter. "Bla-Blake? Uh, he-hey how are you?" Jaune quickly tossed the book he had into a box behind him, which was stacked on top of three other boxes of similar size.

"I'm... fine?" She responded, clearly confused by the situation. "Why are you here though?"

"Well, uh... Professor Goodwitch gave me a list of places looking for part time work as community service and well... I picked this one." Jaune gestured to the boxes behind him as he walked over to the stores register. "It's been a good job so far. Mostly just moving books and boxes from room to room. I've only dropped two so far!" He blinked a few times before leaning forward a bit, whispering at his teammate, "Don't tell Mr. Tukson about that, please."

Blake smiled, a very small fraction of a giggle escaping her lips. "Your secret is safe with me, Jaune." The two continued staring at each other for a moment in silence before she cleared her throat. "So uh, can you check me out?"

"Wh-what?!" Jaune yelped as he hopped backwards. He glanced down at the books that Blake was now tapping with her hand. "Oh. Right. Sorry." He quickly pulled the books closer, allowing him to see the price sticker that had been placed on their backs. As he began to slowly punch in the numbers on the cash register, he felt a hand clap his shoulder with a decent amount of force. The action startled him, causing him to spin around so fast that his head almost kept going.

"Heh. Guess we got a jumpy one here." Tukson laughed as he walked beside Jaune and leaned on the counter. "I see you've met Blake." He said as he turned his head to Jaune and shot him a bit of a glare. "I want you to treat her right, you hear? She's one of my most loyal customers. If she asks you to do a backflip, I want to see you doing three, you got it?"

"UUh... Yes sir..." Jaune gulped as he hastened his number crunching.

"Heh. I think maybe a cartwheel would be more entertaining." Blake added, getting a look of shock from Jaune who began to step away from the counter. "I'm only kidding, Jaune."

"So, how's that whole Beacon thing working out for you, kitten?" Tukson asked, noticing that she seemed to stiffen at the usage of the K word. "Sorry. I forget that you don't like being called that." He apologized.

Blake lowered her head and sighed. "It's fine, Tukson. Both the name and Beacon. I passed the initiation and was put on a team."

"With you as the leader, no doubt."

"Actually, no."

"WHAT?" Tukson slammed both of his hands on the counter, causing Jaune to jump a bit. "Who would be a better leader than you?"

"Well... I think you already know." She nodded her head sideways, her eyes being directed towards the register.

Tukson followed her gaze, staring over at the blonde haired boy that was still trying to figure out how to open the register. "You're kidding."

"Nope. Jaune's my team leader."

"Huh?" The blonde in question mumbled as he looked up from the register. "Oh, that'll be thirty two lien and fifty two cents, Blake." He stated, holding out his hand.

She nodded in response as she began digging around in the small pouch she had procured from her pocket. Handing a few cards and some change to the blonde, he took the sum and deposited it into the register. A few more button presses later and the machine was printing a small receipt. She watched as he ripped the receipt out of the machine and procured a plastic bag from behind the counter, placing both the receipt and her books in it before sliding them across the counter.

Tukson briefly lowered his head and shook it. "I question the sanity of the headmaster at that school." His mouth curled into a small smile as his head rose again. "But hey, I guess miracles can happen."

"Well, it's only been a week. It's not fair to pass judgement on him right now."

"You guys know I'm standing right here, don't you?" Jaune said as his shoulders slumped, earning a short laugh from his boss and his teammate.

"I'm heading back now." Blake stated as she began walking to the door. "When will you be done with your shift?"

"Uuh about-"

"Three hours from now." Tukson finished for him. "I'll make sure he gets back in one piece."

Blake nodded before she pushed the door open and left the building. Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived when he felt Tukson's hand clap itself onto his shoulder once again.

"Alright, you've got one more box to carry out here, then you can work on organizing a new shipment in the back." His boss stated before retreating to the break room.

Jaune quickly made his way back into the storage room and picked up the last box, carrying out towards the front with little problem up until he bumped into the doorway and nearly spilled the contents of yet another box all over the floor. Only a few books managed to escape from the container, causing him to let out a sigh in both frustration and relief. He quickly stacked the last box on the pile and bent over to pick up the two books that had fallen out, his hand brushing over a particularly strange book that he hadn't seen before.

The book was completely white, save for one symbol on the center of the cover. It was a strange symbol that looked like some sort of feline animal head with claw marks running through it, the entire thing being a bright red color that stood out from the books white color. "Huh... What a weird book." He mumbled before picking it up and tossing it back in the box.

* * *

Blake stood in the doorway of their dorm room, staring at the strange sight that laid at her feet. Her partner, Yang Xiao Long, was lying on the ground with her eyes red, foam dripping from her mouth as she stared up at the ceiling. She was mumbling something incoherent, which made Blake panic all the more.

"YANG! What happened?!"

"I believe she is experiencing side effects from being completely thrashed at video games."

Blake glanced over to the TV, where she saw Ren sitting in front of it casually continuing his game session as if nothing was wrong. "...What?" She questioned before kneeling down on the ground next to her partner.

Ren didn't even turn his head as he spoke. "She made the mistake of challenging me to a numerous amount of matches in an assortment of video games." The TV made a beeping noise as the game was paused. Ren slowly turned his head and looked down at the blonde brawler on the floor. "Perhaps next time she will know better than to challenge Captain Ren, the Game Master."

Blake stared at him in silence for a moment. "...Again, What?" She asked as she began to pick Yang up off the ground, leaning the girl up against her own bed in a sitting position.

Ren shut off the TV before standing up and walking back to the desk. "Ah... Sorry. That's just one of the nicknames Nor- ...my friend gave me."

Blake watched as Ren went back to studying at the desk before turning her attention back to Yang, who was beginning to snap out of her game induced trance. What exactly went on while she was gone?

And more importantly, did she need to hire a babysitter for her own team whenever she or Jaune weren't around to prevent things like this from happening again in the future?


	5. Chapter 4 - Instinctual Incidents

Jaune let out a yawn as he dragged himself out of bed. The rest of his team proved to be far more energetic than him this morning, but that was because they didn't have to go do the equivalent of a part time job at the end of every day. He was shocked at how exhausting having to work after school proved to be. As the blonde got dressed, he trudged over to his sock drawer and it. He began rummaging through it, stopping for a moment to yawn as he continued to wake himself up. Grabbing a pair of socks, he shut the drawer and went to turn around. However, he felt the sensation of a hand grab his shoulder and...

"OW! Jaune, what the HELL?!"

He blinked, his vision coming back into focus rather quickly. He looked down at his hands, only to see that he was now grasping someones arm and twisting it rather crudely behind their back, his free arm was wrapped tightly around the persons neck. He had to blink a few more times just to make sure what he was seeing and doing was real. The person squirmed in his grip before finally yanking her arm out of his hand, spinning herself around in the process so she could push him away. As she did so, he stumbled backwards and finally realized that it was Blake that he had grabbed.

Had his instincts just taken over again? He could understand that, everyone in his family has trouble controlling their werewolf instincts whenever they were groggy. But why did they have to be so sensitive to Blake? He never would have done something like this to anyone else, would he have? And more importantly, why was he-

"JAUNE!"

He finally managed to snap back to reality. "Sorry! I... uh I'm sorry!"

"Dude." Yang got off of her bed and walked towards the pair. "What the hell was that about? Blake asked you a question and you just spun around and nearly twisted her arm off."

"Look I said I was sorry!" He took a step backwards. "I'm... I'm just not myself in the morning, okay?" He took a few more steps backwards before ducking into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him so that nobody could continue to engage in conversation with him.

"Jeez." Yang watched as her partner rubbed her wrist, the blonde wincing in pain as she did. "You okay, Blake? Looks like he grabbed you pretty hard."

"Hard is an understatement. He almost snapped my wrist in half with that grip."

"I wouldn't hold it against him." Both of them turned to see Ren sitting on his bed, putting his shoes on. "It looked as if you startled him. It was most likely just a reflex."

Blake and Yang shot each other a brief glance before they reluctantly went back to getting ready for their day. Luckily for Jaune, his team seemed to have dropped the subject of his little freakout and decided to just go about the rest of their day as if nothing had ever happened. At least, it was dropped until breakfast was over.

"Oh! Ren! Sit next to me!" Nora shouted as she rather crudely pushed the heiress sitting next to her away.

"Hey! Don't touch me!" Weiss shouted as she moved herself even further away from her ginger teammate, winding up at the end of the table. As Ren complied with Nora's request, the heiress made sure to shoot the boy a stern glare before turning her head away from the group.

"So uh, hey guys. How's it going?" Jaune asked, noticing the uneasy glance that Ruby and Pyrrha shared before they turned back to him.

"It's... good?" Pyrrha's eyes drifted over to Weiss for a moment before they quickly snapped back to Jaune. "Our team is certainly... coming along. How is yours doing?" She turned to Blake and Yang, the two teammates that she had yet to formally introduce herself to yet, expecting them to take the first step.

"It's good. In my-"

"GOOD? We're AWESOME!" Yang interjected as she nudged Jaune with enough force to knock him over. "Don't think we've met though. Name's Yang Xiao Long, and I'm Ruby's older sister." She offered her hand to Pyrrha, the gladiator accepting it with a smile.

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos, it's nice to meet you, Yang."

"Pyrrha, huh? I haven't really seen you around outside of classes, and since you're on my little sisters team, I'm glad you finally Apyrrha'd long enough for me to meet you!" The blonde noticed everyone around her groaning aside from Pyrrha herself, who just offered a confused smile in return.

"Ugh. Now I see where your sister gets it from." Weiss chided as she leaned her chin on a hand. "You're both frustratingly annoying idiots."

Yang felt a vein bulge in her forehead as she leaned across the table, her fists clenched. "Excuse me, Ice Queen? You got a problem with us?"

"Yes. I have a severe allergy to incompetence."

"WEISS!" Ruby shouted as Yang slammed both her hands down on the table, threatening to fly over it in an attempt to strangle the heiress. Luckily, both Jaune and Ren were able to hold the blonde back, albeit barely. It was more likely possible only because she didn't want to harm both of them along with Weiss.

"And you can't even control yourself. Can you please remind me how your little sister became the leader of our team again?" The heiress continued to be content with blasting the two sisters verbally, throwing all precautions over her own safety to the wind. "It should have been me... Or I suppose Pyrrha. She is just as competent as I am, after all."

"Oh my god." Yang shot out of her seat, taking her tray with her as she began walking off. "I can't sit anywhere near her anymore."

"Yang wait!" Ruby's call made the blonde pause and turn back to the table, only to hear Weiss chime in with a snide comment. "Finally you say something smart." The heiress's face was adorned with a triumphant smirk, thinking that she was the victor of the argument.

Yang grit her teeth and snorted in disgust before she returned to stomping away from the table.

Jaune let out a confused sigh as he stared over at Ruby, his fellow leader looking like she was about to burst into tears at the sight of her sister being so upset. Why was Yang so easily upset around Ruby? And why did Weiss provoke the blonde so easily? Sure, she was rude and arrogant, but she was a rich snob. That was par for the course when it came to those types... But at the same time he also felt a little bad for the heiress, because she had probably spent her life isolated from any kind of real social life like most rich people were.

He did take the time to notice the concerned stares coming from both of his other teammates however. Perhaps maybe it was time for him to step up and finally do something leader-y? Leaning over to Ren, he briefly whispered in his ear. "I'll go have a talk with Yang later."

Ren nodded in response. "I think that would be the best idea. She seems very irritable whenever we all meet up here in the mess hall."

The rest of the tables occupants quickly finished their breakfast and continued on with the rest of their day, not wanting to continue to partake in the awkward atmosphere that seemed to just live in the cafeteria now.

* * *

Jaune's ears were filled with the sounds of metal clacking against metal and the sounds of heavy grunting. Along with a mixed smell of rubber and sweat. Yep, this was the gym all right. Those rubber mats on the floor have always had that distinct smell that was just the right amount of unbearable to him. Glancing around the room, the occupants had long since departed thanks to one person in particular who was still grunting loudly as she continued to pump her arms up and down, with little regard to the fact that she was bench pressing extremely heavy weights with no partner to spot her. He flinched a little bit when the weights clacked together, the blonde brawler finishing her set.

Now would be the best time to approach her, he walked towards her and opened his mouth to speak. However, he was interrupted by the sight of a sweaty Yang Xiao Long in a tank top, stretching. "Dammit Jaune... Stop ogling your teammate when she needs some support!" He grit his teeth hard as he forced his eyes to focus on her head. "I figured I'd find you here."

She didn't even pay him any mind as she picked up a water bottle that she had next to the bench and began drinking from it. A few gulps later, she wiped her mouth and screwed the cap back on. "What's up, leader? Don't you have to go do your community service?"

"Yeah, but I figured I'd stop on the way. I'm sure my boss will understand."

She cocked an eyebrow as she tilted her head. "Understand what?"

"Yang, I wanna talk about what happened this morning at breakfast." He noticed that her face scrunched up at the mention of breakfast. "I get that we've only been a team for only a few days, but you don't seem like the kind of person to just fly off the handle like that."

She crushed the now empty water bottle in her hand. "Yeah well... Maybe something about Weiss just pisses me off."

Jaune sat down on the bench in front of her. "I don't think that's the whole reason."

"Guess you're thinking wrong then. Cos that's it. She's a bitch, I don't like her."

"Hmm..." He got up off of the bench and walked behind Yang, drawing her attention as he leaned against the metal pole on the right side of the bench. "Mind if I spot you for a bit?"

Yang smiled and laid back down on the bench. "Sure, I guess. I'm not the one who'll get in trouble if you're late." She grabbed the bar before pausing. "Oh, and don't let those eyes wander, or else." Adding in a wink, she quickly pulled the bar out of its holster and began another set.

Jaune waited for her to do a few presses before he spoke again. "So, what's Ruby like?"

Yang struggled for a moment, the question taking her for a loop for some reason. "Huh?" She stared up at him, waiting for him to answer. But when she didn't get one, she decided to just bite. "Uh, well... She's the best little sister anyone could ask for."

"Pff. Every older sibling says that. Tell me WHY."

"Where to begin?" She finished a few more reps before taking a short break. "She's so innocent. I mean, she believes in fairy tales for pete sake! They're a huge reason as to why she wants to be a huntress. She wants to be the hero who helps people and never asks for anything in return. She's got the biggest heart ever, giving people who have wronged her a second chance despite what they might have done in the past." She sighed. "She's also a whiz when it comes to weapons. Like, total nerd status. But if you give her weapon blueprints and materials, she'll have a weapon ready for you the next day. Probably with better stuff than the original blueprints even had."

Jaune smiled. "So, she's pretty awesome, I take it?"

"Like I said, best little sister ever."

"Yeah yeah..." He frowned, one of his hands going into his pocket as he looked down at her. "So, lemme ask you this. Would you say Ruby is strong?"

"Definitely." There was no hesitation with her answer, as if she already knew the question was coming. "People might think she's too immature and fragile looking, she's been through..." She sat up slowly, looking down at the palms of her hands. "uh... a lot... she's been through a lot."

"Can she take care of herself?"

"Pff. Yeah! Of... course she can! Me and our Uncle taught her all we know!"

"Then stop worrying about her so much." He stated bluntly, causing her to spin around and stare at him, dumbfounded. "I know that's why you hate Weiss so much. And why you're so nervous whenever you see Ruby with the rest of her team." He stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. "She'll be fine, Yang. She's just got to find her own way to make friends with her team. Weiss can't be as cold as she is forever."

Yang sat in silence. She didn't want to admit it, but he was right. That didn't mean she couldn't keep looking out for her little sister though. And she wouldn't. Nothing in the world could stop her from being there for her. But for now, there was truly nothing that she could do, despite the fact that she wanted to do SOMETHING more than anything. "I guess you're right... It's just..."

"You're worried. That's what all siblings do for each other. But you've got to give her some space, Yang. Let her learn to figure these things out for herself."

She pursed her lips for a moment and hummed. "You sound pretty knowledged on the subject. What's up with your family?"

He chuckled a bit in response as he took a few steps towards the door. "Let's just say I grew up with a big family, so I know how it is. Even though my sisters had moved on long after I was born, they still doted over me from across the continent." His family was certainly a chaotic one, despite the fact that they were scattered around the globe. "Maybe I'll tell you about them another time, but for now I gotta head on down to Vale." With a wave, he walked out of the room.

"I expect the full scoop Jaune!" Yang shouted out as she got up and walked over to the leg press. She sat down and began her workout, a small smirk creeping onto her face as she thought about the conversation she had just had with her leader.

"And thanks for the pep talk, I think it did me some good."

* * *

Jaune wiped his forehead as soon as he stacked the last box in front of the shelf. Rubbing his hands together, he took a glance at the mostly empty shelf before he walked back to the back room and grabbed a small step-ladder. Plopping the ladder down next to the boxes, he stepped up to the top step and reached over to the box that was on the very top of the pile. Opening it up, he reached inside and grabbed a few books to look at. After making sure that he had grabbed the right ones, he began placing them on the shelf, making sure to keep them within alphabetical order first and foremost.

A bell rang out as the stores front door opened, signaling that someone had entered the establishment. "Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, I'll be there in just a second!" He called out before he began to get off of the step ladder.

"It's fine, Jaune. I'm heading your way."

Turning his head, he caught the sight of his teammate, Blake, heading towards him. The sight of her suddenly made him anxious. Mostly because of the fact that he nearly snapped off her hand this morning. "Uh... heh... hey, Blake. What are you doing here?"

"I come here every few days. Not just to buy books, but to unwind." She responded as she plopped down on the same beanbag chair that she secretly loved, a book already in her hand. "Don't mind me, I'll just be here reading."

Despite the fact that he was told not to worry, that was about the only thing he was doing now as he tried to get back to work. He was really hoping that she hadn't taken that attack personally, it was just his instincts kicking in at the worst possible time. Of course, he couldn't just outright say that, but he at least tried to apologize. And now all of a sudden she was back here at his job? It felt more like she purposefully came here just to... well, he didn't know what she had planned, if anything. But it just seemed too coincidental.

But, he continued working in silence regardless of his anxiety. It seemed as if her words were true though, she had yet to say or do anything pertaining to him. Maybe she did just come to read peacefully while also ignoring his presence. That would be great-

"Jaune? Can I ask you a question?"

He gulped nervously. "Uh, yeah sure, Blake. Shoot."

"Why did you attack me this morning?"

He froze up at those words, nearly dropping the book that was in his hand at the time. He knew it. He knew that she had taken that personally. And he knew that it had been no coincidence that she decided to show up again on the very same day that it had happened. "I... uh... I didn't mean to. I told you, that was an accident and-"

"I didn't ask if it was an accident. I asked why you did it."

He could feel her amber eyes drilling into his back. It was painful. Very painful. "It's... it's just something that happens with me. It's because I'm a Faunus, okay?"

"No." She stated bluntly as she sat up. "Faunus don't just go crazy like that out of nowhere. It's not normal."

Not normal? That was bad. But then again, how would she even know if it was normal for a Faunus? She had quite a bit of nerve acting like she knew everything about Faunus. "How would you know, Blake?" He suddenly snapped back. "I don't see any animal features on you."

"What?!" She nearly shouted, causing Jaune to almost fall off the stool in shock. She grit her teeth hard, taking a step forward. "I know because I-" She stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath to help her calm down and collect her thoughts. "I know because I am a Faunus Rights Activist. I wouldn't be very good at such a role if I didn't know anything about Faunus. And I know for a fact that what happens with you isn't normal Faunus behavior. Faunus don't just go feral all of a sudden. You're either a feral Faunus or you aren't."

Jaune didn't respond, instead he continued to shuffled through the box of books that was next to him. Was his plan about to blow up in his face? Were Faunus and Werewolves actually not alike in the least bit? And there was no way he could back out on it now without having some serious repercussions. Not even those that would possibly expose him, there would be many repercussions with his team and his friends. They would hate him most likely, call him a racist and who knows what else would happen to him. He might even get expelled!

He began to breath in and out rapidly, feeling a panic attack coming on as he was backed into a corner. Perhaps he was overreacting, but when you have a secret like his you can't risk not reacting at all. As he continued to put books on the shelf, he glanced at the book in his hand. "The Human Brain and You." It was an awful name for a book in his opinion. But after processing it for a moment, he figured something out. The brain was his ticket out of this situation! And he wasn't just thinking about thinking, no he was thinking about saying something ABOUT thinking! Which certainly did NOT sound better in his head.

"It's... a mental condition."

She stared at him for a few seconds, her eyes wide as dinner plates at the implication of what he just said. "Oh." She covered her mouth with her hand. _Great going, Blake, you just interrogated someone about their mental illness._ She was now officially feeling worse than before. Probably not as bad as she most likely made Jaune feel by calling his condition to attention, though. "I'm... sorry. I didn't mean to... I mean I..." She couldn't even find the words to even begin to apologize to him.

"It's okay." Jaune sighed, though on the inside of his head there was a party going on over the fact that she seemed to buy his little fib. But was it a fib, though? It could technically be considered a mental illness. It was something that his mind just flipped to in situations where it deemed itself necessary. There was an awkward silence after that, and although he tried to ignore it by continuing his work he just simply could not. He could tell just by looking at her that she was feeling lower than low for getting him to say such a thing. So he decided to do what he always did when someone was feeling down... talk to them. "So... uh... I'm from Mistral."

She blinked a few times, not knowing how to respond. He was giving her a chance to deflect the conversation off of what she had said, but would she actually respond herself? Her mouth had already run a bit too much today... "Oh. I see."

"Yeah..." He continued. "I lived on the outskirts of a little village called Helsing." He glanced over to Blake, only to see that she had her nose buried in a book. Despite the fact that she lost interest, he was going to continue anyway. After all, they were all on a team together whether they liked it or not. And it would be best for them to at least learn about each other just a little bit. "Uh... I had a pretty big family. Seven sisters." He noticed that Blake's head moved a little, her amber eyes just barely peaking out from behind her book. "I was the youngest by about five years. By the time I was born, they were all off living on their own around the world. I've never even met them all in person..."

"That's... quite the family picture you're painting for me."

"Heh. Yep. I've got quite the family..." Tossing an empty box aside, he picked up the next one and opened it up. He waited for a brief moment before he began putting the next batch of books into their proper place. Silence once again filled the store, disappointing the blonde a little. He had expected Blake to engage in conversation with him, but it seems as though the whole mental illness topic from before scared her enough to keep her lips shut. She was already quiet enough as it was, even Ren was proving to be more talkative than her. And he had only spoken about three times today.

Sensing that she wasn't going to engage in conversation with him any further, he just continued on with his work in silence yet again. Eventually, he finished filling up the shelf that he had been working on for the last hour. He let out a brief yawn as he hopped off of the step-ladder and moved it over to the next empty shelf. Pulling up a box with him, he opened it up and began placing the next set of books in their proper place. He continued to rummage around in the box, placing the books where they belonged. However, one book in particular caught his eye as he pulled it out of the box.

The book was completely white, and it was completely devoid of any kind of detail with the exception of an emblem on the front. Some kind of feline animals head with claw marks running through it, the entire emblem being red. He recognized this book, it was just like the one he had found a few days ago in another one of the boxes. "Huh. Here's another one of these weird books. I should really ask Tukson what the deal is with these..." He mumbled to himself out loud, unknowingly drawing the attention of Blake's eyes.

Her eyes went wider then they had previously been before. She never even felt her body move, but she found herself right next to Jaune. She could feel her eyes form into a piercing glare as she stared at both him and the book in his hand. "Where did you get that?"

"I... uh... I..." He flinched when her glare hardened. What the heck was going on with Blake? And why was she suddenly in his face with this glare? It gave him the urge to put his tail between his legs... if he had one. "I got it from the box! Is there something wrong with it?!"

"Has Tukson given it to anyone?"

"Wh-what? Why would he-"

Her hands surged forward and latched onto the step-ladder, causing it to shake slightly. "Did he give it to ANYONE?! Yes or no, Jaune!"

Jaune placed the book on the shelf and grabbed onto the ladder in an attempt to stabilize it. "NO!" Both of them stood there for a moment, the only sounds registering in either of their ears was the sound of Jaune's own shocked panting. "What's going on, Blake? What's wrong with this book? Is it like, occult stuff or something?"

He didn't know? How could he not know? He was a Faunus, there was absolutely no way that he couldn't know about that book, even if he's lived under a rock for real. "...It's nothing. I have to go." Without even giving him a chance to offer a response, she quickly power walked to the door and left the store, leaving one extremely confused blonde behind.

"...What the heck was that all about?" He scratched his head in confusion before shrugging the outburst off. Tossing the book back into the box, he simply began picking the books around it until it was the only book left.

* * *

A few hours later, and he had successfully emptied out all the boxes for the day. He took a step back and admired his work, holding the leftover book firmly in his hand as he did so.

"Why do you have that book, Jaune?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin, spinning around so fast that he almost winged his boss in the head with said book. Jaune shivered a little when he noticed that Tukson looked extremely agitated, possibly because of the book and possibly because he almost got beaten over the head with it. "Little bit jumpy there, aren't you, Jaune?"

Jaune said nothing, causing Tukson's stare to harden. "Almost attacking me with a book aside, I'll ask you again, why do you have that book in the first place?"

"I found it in one of the boxes, sir. I was just bringing it to the back to give to you!"

"Do you have any idea on what this book is, Jaune?" Tukson loomed over him, causing his anxiety to come crashing back yet again. Jaune could feel his body ready itself into a prone position, his nails tingling as if he were about to grow them into claws once again.

 _Calm down, Jaune. Calm down. It'll be fine, just talk things out._ He took a deep breathe before he looked Tukson straight in the eye. "No sir. I found another one a few days ago, and I just figured this was some sort of rare special edition for another book."

Tukson stared at him for a few moments, his eyes looking as if they were piercing through his very soul. He hummed for a brief moment before he smiled and nodded. "Yeah, they're really rare pre-orders. I've got a couple customers coming in to get them in a few days, and I had completely forgotten that they were in with the rest of my shipments. Good thinking on not putting them on the shelves, kid."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Jaune handed his boss the book before taking a few steps backwards. "Well, thanks! I figured it'd be a bad idea if someone picked those up and it was meant for someone else!" Glancing at the clock, he noticed that it was quitting time and breathed yet another sigh of relief. "Looks like it's time for me to head back to Beacon. I'll see you tomorrow, sir!" With a wave, he quickly made his way for the front door.

"Hey kid, hold up."

Jaune turned to see Tukson now leaning over the counter, beckoning him back over. He slowly began walking back over to him, his instincts once again telling him to be cautious for some strange reason. "Uh, yes sir?"

"You've been here for three days now, but I still don't know what you did to get yourself in so much trouble. Mind tellin' an old cat what you did?"

"Oh... Well..." Jaune scratched the back of his head as he chuckled. "There was this jerkoff of a bully on campus who was tormenting me and another faunus student." He didn't notice the sudden surge of anger on his boss's face as he continued. "And well, during one of our sparring matches he said that Faunus like us should be enslaved. And I sorta clawed him in the stomach and on his face. Went right through his aura and pierced his skin."

"Hmm..." Tukson hummed. "That is a big deal. I can see why you're being punished now."

"Yeah..." Jaune glanced around for a moment before he began making his way to the door once again. "Well, I'll see you same time tomorrow, sir."

"Hold on a sec, kid." Tukson demanded as he quickly opened the register next to him and pulled out a few lien cards. The man walked over to Jaune and quickly pushed them into his hand without saying a word.

Confused, Jaune stared at the money he had been given. "Uh, sir? I'm working for community service, remember? You're not supposed to pay me."

"I know what I'm supposed to not do. And I don't care." Tukson said as he smiled. "I think you did the right thing, kid. Sticking up for yourself, for us, is something that shouldn't be punished. Besides, you've been the best employee I've had for months. So as far as I'm concerned, you're working here as a REAL employee for the week. And as far as Beacon is concerned? You're here as an unpaid student doing community service as punishment." He added a wink before pushing Jaune out the door. "Alright kid, get on out of here. And have a good night."

"Thanks, sir. I will!" Jaune replied with a wave and a smile before practically pranced down the street, pushing the question as to why he was suddenly becoming more anxious around his boss now along with Blake. Was there a connection to be had?

Ah who cares? At least he was making a bit of money on the side now!


	6. Chapter 5 - A sense of Furboding

Jaune awoke to the sounds of snarling, as if a beast had been agitated. Sitting up, he rubbed his head along with his back. He was extremely uncomfortable for some strange reason. His bed was a very comfy one, at least in his opinion, so he couldn't quite tell why it felt so... rocky tonight. Glancing around, the first thing that caught his eye was the very dim light radiating from the torches scattered around the pit... wait a second, what? He scrambled to his feet in a panic, his hands sinking into the cool dirt as they pushed into it. That would explain why he felt so uncomfortable. He was in a field of some sort.

He held a hand above his eyes as he scoured the darkness in an attempt to get a bearing on where he was, however his search would yield futile. What little light filled this field only illuminated the pit and it's very immediate surroundings. So he did the only logical thing he could think of doing, he slowly approached the pit. The angry snarling began to pick up in intensity as he inched closer to the lip of the gigantic hole, causing him to slow his advance inch by inch until finally he could just barely peak over the rim.

Crude wooden spears were jammed all around the rim, pointing in towards the center. And it looked as if there was a single enterance at the right end of the entire thing, a stone staircase leading up into the field where he was now. A gate of iron that was shut firmly tight blocked off any and all ways of escaping. It looked as if this pit were designed more like an arena than anything else. A bone chilling howl rang out from the center, drawing Jaune's attention as his eyes quickly darted to see what had made the noise.

And what filled his vision was a gruesome sight.

He saw his friends, his teammates, all scattered around inside the pit. Well, what was left of them anyways. They were all lying face down in what could only be pools of their own blood, which did not sit still for even a moment. Each crimson puddle slowly expanded around their owners, the liquid escaping from various wounds on their bodies. Some of them were even missing various limbs. Reeling back, Jaune felt the urge to retch on the spot. As he bent over and began uttering guttural sounds, he failed to notice the fact that he couldn't vomit even if he had wanted to.

Another howl drew his attention back to the center of the ring. Though he gazed on in heavy reluctance, he continued nonetheless. He saw what looked like a beowulf sitting calmly in the center of the pit, the creature staring up at him with curiosity. But this beowulf was different from any that he had ever seen. It had brown fur, which lacked any kind of bone plating or spike that would be staple on grimm. Jaune also found that the wolf had piercing blue eyes that glowed a ghostly blue, as if they were radiating with some sort of energy. The wolf briefly stood up on its hind legs, proving that it was bipedal just as the beowulves he mistakened it for were.

The wolf didn't stay on two legs for long though, as it charged towards the the wall of the pit which Jaune was situated on top of. He felt himself fall backwards as he watched the wolf leap upwards, it's front claws digging into the dirt. The beast foamed at the mouth as it began rapidly climbing up the dirt wall, inching closer to the wooden spears that were proving to do nothing to the beasts confidence. It wasn't until the creature came within reaching distance of the first spear did the dirt around it begin to shift, dragging it back down into the pit like a tidal wave washing seaweed back out into the ocean.

Jaune waited for a few moments before he crawled back over to the rim of the pit, peaking over it once more to see that the wolf had returned to its position in the center. It was no longer staring at the blonde, however. Instead, it had taken interest in the corpse of one of his friends. It was a mangled corpse, but he could tell easily enough who it was from what remained of the persons long, black hair. Her bow, still firmly situated on her head. He watched as the wolf slowly crept over to what remained on all fours, and despite the fact that the girl was obviously no longer alive, Jaune felt himself screaming out for her.

No sound escaped from his mouth.

The wolf examined the corpse closely, sniffing it as if to make sure the meat had not spoiled. It waited for a brief moment before it bared its teeth and bit down on the corpses remaining arm, taking a huge chunk of flesh into its mouth. Jaune could feel his stomach wanting to retch again, but instead he found himself pushing his body to his feet. He took off running, but not away from the pit. No, instead he was running towards the gate that he had previously seen. He descended the stairs with such haste that he nearly tripped and fell.

As he stumbled down the final step and made a mad dash for the iron gate, he couldn't help but notice that the path to it had become more of a hallway. He continued running, ignoring the burning sensation in his legs as he neared the gate. It inched closer and closer, until finally he felt his body crash upon it, his hands gripping the metal bars as firmly as he could.

He opened his mouth to call out for his friends, but the sound didn't even have a chance to form in his throat before something else crashed into the gate from the opposite side. Jaune threw himself backwards as two massive, furry hands raked at him with sharp claws. The wolf had met him at the gate with a speed that was faster than anything the blonde had ever seen before. He stared up at the creature, and it stared down at him in turn for a brief moment before it let out a bark. With a loud clang, the beast threw itself against the bars. It paused for a moment, shaking its fur a little before it threw itself at the gate once again. And again. And again.

Jaune scrambled to his feet and glared at the wolf. "No." The words finally found a way to pierce through his silence. "I put you in there for a reason!" The wolf howled in response as it crashed against the bars again. "You're nothing but an animal! A dog! And every dog can be brought to heel! I mastered you!" The wolf continued to thrash against the gate, ignoring the blondes words.

"Master the wolf? Pup, you can't master the wolf. You just stop him from mastering you." The wolf stopped, and gazed intently behind Jaune.

Jaune spun on his heels, turning to face the familiar voice that seemingly calmed the wolf for a moment. And he came face to face with his father, Josiah Arc. "...Dad?" He stared at his father in confusion, the old blonde staring back at his son with cold, piercing blue eyes that matched his own. His long, straightened blonde hair occasionally moving as if a gust of wind had blown through. "What are you doing here? Where are we?"

"You can't master the wolf."

"What?"

"You can't master the wolf, Jaune."

Jaune blinked a few times before he curled his hands into fists. "Dad, what the hell has gotten into you?! What the HELL are you talking about?! Master the wolf? It's in a cage! It doesn't come out anymore! It..." He glanced down at the ground. That was a lie. It did come out. It had been slowly clawing its way back out since he first arrived at Beacon. But he had been caught off guard, and now he knew that he needed to keep a constant vigil against it. "I will keep him in this cage."

"You. Can't."

"I WILL!" He shouted back, throwing his fists up against his own temples, his eyes squinting shut.

"You can't master the wolf, Jaune!"

"SHUT UP!" The wolf snarled once again and crashed against the gate, startling Jaune. He stumbled forward, expecting to crash into his father. But instead, he found himself crashing into the cold, solid dirt wall of the hallway. He struggled to keep his balance before he turned back towards the gate, seeing his father standing near it as the wolf continued to throw itself at the bars.

On the third attempt, one of the bars began to bend ever so slightly. Jaune's eyes widened as the wolf stopped its assault, bending down so that it could examine the bar closer. It's ghostly blue eyes studied the bent metal for a few seconds before the beast bared its fangs once again, throwing itself into the bar once more. Now the wolf was focusing on that one sweet spot, the bar bending more and more each time the wolf's body collided with it. And now, the other bars were beginning to yield to the assault as well. Josiah turned to his son, his cold stare being replaced with one that seemed... pained.

"Jaune..." He spoke, stepping away from the bars by an inch.

Jaune simply stood in silence, his mouth agape. He was at the end of his ropes. The wolf would soon burst from his cage, and there was nothing that would stop it from ripping him to shreds. He thought of something, anything that could help him in this situation, but he found no answers. His life was about to end by some creature in this strange void of death that had been built for it. "...Dad... I'm scared. I don't know what to do..."

A loud clang rang out as the wolf threw itself against the bars.

"You can't master-"

Another loud clang.

"I KNOW THAT, DAD!" Jaune shouted. The wolf threw itself against the bars again. "TELL ME WHAT I HAVE TO DO, THEN!"

Josiah shut his eyes for a moment before he turned back to the wolf. He studied it for a moment, watching closely as it slammed into the bars one final time. Three of them gave in and snapped in half, the jagged metal flying to the ground with a clatter. The wolf paused for a moment as it gazed curiously at the hole it had opened in its cage.

And then it began to force itself through the opening.

"Dad... DAD! WHAT DO I DO?!"

The wolf was nearly free.

Josiah turned back to his son and sighed. "You just stop him from mastering you."

Before Jaune could even respond, the wolf was free. It surged forward on all four of its limbs and lunged at him, it's jagged teeth bared, ready to sink into the blondes neck. The blonde froze in horror as the beasts ghostly blue eyes grew brighter and brighter as it drew closer, the shining light blinding him as he felt the beasts ragged breath hit his face all at once.

And then he felt his entire body slam face first into the ground.

* * *

"Wake up, sleepyhead! I swear, you're just as bad as Ruby was when she first started going to Signal!"

"Huh?" Jaune mumbled as he rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling of his dorm. Yang's face soon came into vision, his fellow blonde smiling at him before dropping what he assumed was his own blanket on top of his face. "Why am I on the floor?" He asked as he ripped the blanket off of his face and slowly got to his feet, throwing the cloth onto his bed before he began to stretch.

"Well, we couldn't get you to wake up."

"...So you threw me off my bed?"

"Yep!" She grinned. "Always works."

He stared at her for a few seconds before shrugging. There was no sense in arguing with what he was now beginning to call "Yang Logic." You would always lose that argument. "Guess the proof is in the pudding. I'm up. What time is it anyway?"

"It's about ten AM. You've been sleeping a lot longer than-"

"TEN AM?! WHY DIDN'T YOU GUYS WAKE ME SOONER WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR-" He found a hand slap over his mouth as Yang's face came closer. She placed a free finger over her own lips and shushed him before pulling both her face and hand away from him.

"It's saturday, dude. Calm down."

He felt his cheeks heat up briefly before he pat the back of his neck with his hand. "Oh. Right."

Yang promptly flopped back onto her bed and began to idly kick her feet. "So, you still gotta go do that community service?"

"Yeah, I've only got two days left after this one."

Yang blew a raspberry. "Laaaame. When do you have to go?"

"Uuh well..." He glanced over at his clock. "School usually ends at three, and I have to work until an hour before curfew... so that gives me about five hours. Give or take a few minutes."

Yang let out a hum before she rolled onto her stomach, casting her gaze over to her partner's bed. Blake was reading a book as per usual, which probably meant that was all she had planned for the day. "I think we should do something before Jaune heads over to prison." She noticed the odd look her partner spared from in between the pages of her book. "As a team, Blake."

Blake let out a mildly disgruntled sigh before closing her book. "Why exactly?"

"Well..." Yang began, "We haven't really done anything together yet aside from our daily grind. I think it'd be fun to just take a day to spend our downtime together!"

"I think I'll pass on that." Blake deadpanned as she reopened her book and began reading again.

"Yeesh. What crawled up your-" Yang paused when she felt a hand rest on top of her head, causing her eyes to glance upwards to see who had placed it there in the first place. She was greeted by her other teammate, Ren, who was now smiling. That was quite a rare sight.

"I think Yang has a good idea. We should be trying to spend at least a little time together, we are going to be with each other for the next four years after all."

Blake briefly pondered his words. He wasn't wrong in saying that Yang's idea was a good one. Despite the fact that she really didn't feel like going anywhere today, fresh air would maybe do her some good. She was feeling particularly antsy after catching sight of that eerie book at Tuksons. She closed the book in her hands and tossed it aside. "I suppose you're right."

"Wow. Two people thinking that I had a good idea in one day! Is it my birthday?" Yang rolled onto her back once again before sitting up. "Yo Jaune, you in or you skin?" She blinked a few times when she noticed that her leader was nowhere to be found. When she heard the faucet in the bathroom running however, she knew that he at least hadn't tried to run off.

"Hm? Yeah, sure." Jaune mumbled through his toothbrush, waving out the door to add more to the confirmation. He certainly wasn't against it. He needed some fresh air to sort out that freaky and terrifying dream that he had just experienced.

"Well then, that settles it!" Yang hopped off of her bed and began rummaging around in her drawer, pulling out a pair of socks for her to wear. "What should we do?"

 _This would be a good opportunity..._ Blake glanced down at her book before giving a suggestion. "We could always go to the bookstore."

"BOOOORING!"

Ren placed a hand on his chin, pondering their options. "How about the arcade?" He failed to notice Yang's face pale up at the mention of anything having to do with electronic gaming.

"N-no... that's uh... something for another day." She would need to bone up on her skills before she even thought of challenging that game maniac again. "...Hmmm. JAUNE! You got any ideas?"

Jaune poked his head out of the bathroom, toothbrush still firmly being ran against his teeth. He thought about what could possibly be a decent team activity that didn't involve either of the already denied ideas. He did see something on his calendar about a fair for something, but what was it? Holding a finger up to show that he needed a moment, he quickly returned to the bathroom and spit the toothpaste in his mouth down the sink drain.

Once he had finished freshening up, he walked out of the bathroom and back to his bed where he would find his scroll laying on top of his pillow. He snatched the device up and powered it on, pulling up the calendar for the next month or so. "How about this?" He began as he read the current events going on around Vale. "There's a small fair opening at the pier today. We could go to that."

"Fair? I thought the Vytal Festival wasn't starting for another few months. The preparations don't even start for another week or so." Ren said as he leaned back in his chair.

"This doesn't say anything about a Vytal Festival. It's the "Celebration of the Sea Fair" according to the calendar."

The sound of a book falling to the floor echoed throughout the room. "...D-did you say Celebration of the Sea Fair?" Blake mumbled, her eyes dilating in a rather unsettling fashion as her mouth hung open a bit. She waited for Jaune to slowly nod his head before she attempted to recover from the realization by coughing into her hand. "...I vote we go to the fair."

"A fair means games. So I'm down for that." Yang stated as she let out a yawn. "Oh, maybe I can get a funnel cake, too."

"That sounds like a fine idea. I haven't had seafood in quite some time." Ren said as he adjusted his cuffs.

"Then I guess it's settled!" Jaune declared with a grin. "We're going to the Sea Fair!"

* * *

"Alright, so what are we going to do first?" Jaune questioned as he turned to his team... only to find that none of them were even there.

He groaned as he searched around for them. "Great. The second we get here they ditch me. Didn't even ask if I wanted to join any of them..." He mumbled to himself as he began to aimlessly drift around.

The sea salt in the air was certainly refreshing, but the smell of fish was something he could have gone without. But then again, it was his suggestion to come here. He did give playing some of the fair games a thought, but then he remembered how much of a scam those really were. You could pay fifty lien to try and win a cruddy prize, or you could go to the store and buy the same thing for ten. But perhaps maybe it was more about the experience than the cost...

Feeling his stomach rumble, he began scanning the nearby food stalls for something that would suit his taste. He eventually found one that would work, getting a hamburger and fries for his lunch. It was a strange thing to get at a seafood fair, but he had his reasons. Looking around for a table to sit at, he picked out Blake's bow from the small crowd of people and smiled as he made his way over to her and sat down to her left.

"Uuuh..." Jaune found himself speechless as he turned to greet his teammate. Blake was sitting at the table with big plates of various seafoods surrounding her. She was adorned with a look on her face that could only be described as blissful. And it also made him feel like the odd one out, given the fact that he was sitting next to her eating a standard hamburger at a festival dedicated to seafood.

Blake continued practically shoveling food into her mouth before she stopped to chew, her eyes drifting over to her teammate staring at her as if she had two heads. She felt a bit of heat rushing to her cheeks as she turned her head away from him slightly. "Yes, Jaune? Can I help you?" She asked after swallowing the food that she had been chewing. She may have gotten carried away with eating, but she still had her table manners.

Jaune turned away from her as well, realizing that he had caused a bit of embarrassment to his teammate. "Uh, sorry." He apologized, "I was just taken back by how much you like seafood. I mean, I knew you were excited about coming here, but..."

"It's... been awhile since I've had decent seafood." She pulled a nearby plate of calamari closer before she began digging into it. She glanced over at Jaune's plate, noting that he had chosen to eat something as strange as a hamburger at a seafood festival. "Why did you get a burger instead?" The question seemed to embarrass her leader, as he turned away from her and began rubbing the back of his head as his face flushed pink. _Why would that question make him so embarrassed?_

"I uh... I'm allergic to seafood."

Blake found herself gasping at the same time as chewing, causing some of the food to clog her throat temporarily as she choked on it. After a few coughs, she managed to regain her composure. "You're allergic to seafood?" She repeated back to him, not wanting to believe the words he had uttered. He nodded solemnly as he returned to eating his food, looking as if he had been left out of some fantastic event.

"That's... disturbing. I'm sorry." She couldn't imagine being allergic to seafood. That sounded like the worst nightmare ever, and that was saying a lot. But, if he was allergic to seafood, why was he so eager to suggest and come to this fair in the first place? He was missing out on half of the point. "Why did you suggest we come here then? You knew you wouldn't be able to enjoy the eating aspect of it."

"Yeah. But you guys all seemed to enjoy the idea, so I just kinda went along with it." He noticed that Blake was staring at him, a look of confusion on her face. "Uh, I mean... I'm still having fun! Don't go thinking I'm just being a martyr or something like that!"

She said nothing as she returned to eating. It was quite interesting that he would potentially sacrifice his own enjoyment of something just to keep his team happy. That was an admirable trait in a leader, but she couldn't help but wonder if he knew when to state his own opinions when it came to disagreements. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of a bell ringing loudly, followed by shouts of joy from her blonde partner, Yang.

It had become very easy to pick out the blonde in a crowd, both visually and through her very distinct voice. Turning in her seat, she watched as her partner in question walked away from a strength testing game, the bell having been ripped completely off the top of the device by the blondes insane power. Yang's smile didn't falter as she moved on to the next fair game, adding to the fear of all the nearby booth operators.

"Heh... Yang sure is something, huh?" Jaune turned back to Blake, a smile on his face. "I don't think I've seen her get upset over anything yet."

"Yeah, she's something alright. I'm sure Atlas's top scientists are trying to figure out what."

Jaune burst into a brief fit of laughter before he thought of something. "Hey, Blake? How's your relationship with Yang?"

Her relationship with Yang? She didn't really have one at this point. But they had only known each other for just barely two weeks now. "She's okay, little bit annoying and loud. But, she's a good person."

"Have you... done anything with her?" He noticed the lack of understanding in his statement. "I mean, spent time with her? Talked about stuff together?"

Blake rolled her eyes. She really wasn't at Beacon to make friends, she would prefer if her team just stayed as acquaintances. But she would humor her leader for now. "Does today not count?"

"Uh, not really, no. You haven't done anything with her at all."

"Have you?"

"Well, we've had a few conversations and done a few things together since school started. Can't say I've done the same with Ren..." He smiled a bit as he studied her. "And I've done things with you. We've had conversations."

 _Conversations that either me or him have ended awkwardly..._ "Yeah but... I wouldn't consider them pleasant."

"I think they were alright. My point is though, we were made a team without our consent, but that doesn't mean we have to just be strangers that work well together." He sighed. "But I can understand if socializing isn't really your thing. You don't seem like the most social type. But I would like to ask you to at least try." He placed a hand on his chin. "But not as a leader. As a friend. Well, potential friend."

She rolled her eyes again. But, the idea wasn't sounding as bad as she first thought. At least he was being calm and collected about his approach. "I'll give it a shot, I guess."

Jaune's smile got bigger and brighter. "That's all I could ask for, thanks." He turned back to his burger and began finishing it, but right into his next bite a sudden thought surged through his head. "Uh... where's Ren, anyway?"

* * *

Ren slammed his fist on the counter of the booth, the pain being masked by his unbridled rage. Though you wouldn't be able to tell he was angry at all due to the rather blank look on his face. "Tough luck, kid. Almost had it that time." The rather short and portly redhead man mocked as he continued to toss the baseball he was holding up and down in his hand as he glanced towards the stacks of silver bottles on the nearby stands. "Gotta knock down all three if you want to win something."

Ren let out a sigh as he rummaged through his empty pockets. He had no more lien on him, as he limited his recreational funds for today because of this exact reason. He always did get carried away with carnival games, mostly thanks to Nora wanting all the... He paused for a moment when she entered his thoughts again. Sighing once more, he ruminated on what his next action would be silently as he stared up at one of the prizes. The game was obviously rigged, as he had hit the stacks dead on multiple times. The bottles were most likely metal, and probably filled with sand or something else to weight them down. It was impossible to tell, based on the fact that they were painted silver.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a hand clap over his shoulder. "Hey there, Renny! Why the long face?" Yang asked as she wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him in close. Though she became worried when he didn't offer her a response. She followed her teammates eyes, settling her own upon a head-sized plush toy hanging next to many others. Strangely enough, this particular one was the only of its kind.

It wasn't even a fish, or anything ocean related at all. It was some sort of green four legged animal. The animals front two legs were longer than normal, and ended in small plastic hook-claws. It had a round head with two beady black eyes, and a particularly large brown snout that also seemed to meld into its mouth. She knew this animal, it was on the tip of her tongue... "A sloth!" She announced, drawing Ren's attention. "Dad used to call me that all the time whenever I refused to do my chores!" She added with a grin, causing Ren to smile a bit in return. "So why's a sloth plush got our string bean all worked up?"

Ren seemed to shift nervously in place as he answered. "It's an animal that... means a lot to me."

Yang tilted her head to the side a bit. "Why, does it remind you of someone or something?"

"You could say that, yes."

"Hmm..." She hummed before she took a step forward and reached into her pocket, pulling out some lien before rather crudely slamming it down on the booth's counter. "Gimme a ball." The proprietor rolled his eyes as he moved to grab three baseballs from the bin next to him, only to be stopped by Yang. "Ah ah ah, I said give me A ball."

"You get three for one game, kid."

"And I said that I only want one. S'all I need anyway." Yang replied, her smug grin not faltering for even a second.

"Whatever kid." The man snorted before he tossed her a single baseball. "It's your money."

"Yang? What are you-" Ren found a finger placed on his lips, shushing him as the blonde gave him a playful wink.

Without saying another word, Yang took a step backwards and wound up a pitch, just like a professional baseball player would. With a small shout, she swung her arm backwards as her leg also coming up for a moment before it stamped down as she swung her hand. The ball went flying at a breakneck speed, slamming into the metal bottles with enough for to knock them completely off of the stand, along with the two stacks that were to the left and right of them. The loud crack that was heard shortly after the ball impacted with the bottles also informed them that said ball had traveled through the wooden wall of the booth, leaving a baseball sized hole in the back of it. A hole that was also giving off a bit of smoke.

Without even saying a word, Yang practically skipped back to the booth and plucked the green sloth from its perch, ignoring the look of shock on the booth owners face. "Here ya go, Renny!" Yang presented the plush to him, ignoring the look of shock on his face that was equal to the booth owners for a few moments before realizing that he wasn't accepting her gift. Holding the plush up, she pushed it into his face and touched its nose to his. "Boop!" Ren slowly grabbed hold of the plush and brought it down, startling her for a moment when she saw the pure and unbridled emotions swirling in his magenta eyes. She wasn't sure if they were positive emotions, negative or both.

"Thank you, Yang." He finally managed to whisper out. "This means a lot to me."

"Hey, no problem! It's what friends are for!" Yang grinned as she wrapped her arm around his neck once again. "Why don't we go see what our leader and our broody teammate are up to?"

"Broody?"

Yang rolled her eyes, not surprised that he didn't notice. "Well, she seems really broody. She really doesn't talk a whole lot, and when she does she sounds like she wants to shoot herself in the face with her own gun."

Ren said nothing as the two of them continued walking along. While Yang wasn't entirely wrong about how their teammate Blake acted, her certainly wouldn't have put it as crudely as she did. He couldn't deny that Blake seemed rather distant, and generally seemed as if she wanted to just be left alone. The two of them eventually found their teammate, still in the same place that she was left at. Except now there were quite a few stacks of plates and bowls scattered around the table in front of her.

"Hey, Blakey!" Yang called out, ignoring the grunt of annoyance that her black haired partner let out at the sound of her nickname. "Where's Jaune at?"

"He had to go to work. So it's just the three of us here."

"Aw. Lame." Yang glanced over at the nearby booths. "I still had a few games I wanted to beat him at."

"I think heading back to Beacon would be a good idea. It's beginning to get late, and dinner will probably be served soon." Ren said, noting that the sun was beginning to show signs of descending from its position in the sky.

"Tch. I guess so. Still, gotta give Jaune some points for suggesting the fair. It was a blast!"

"Right." Blake agreed, before she remembered something important. She needed to go somewhere.

"I think you enjoyed it a bit too much, Blake. How many fish did you eat?" Yang poked a nearby stack of plates that surrounded her partner, causing her to blush in response to the blondes question.

"Enough to make me full."

"More like enough to pay a fisherman's salary for a month." Yang added, causing Blake's brow to furrow.

"Well, I think I'm going to walk off a bit of my meal before I head back to Beacon." Blake ignored the flabbergasted look of a few nearby people who looked at the amount of food that one girl had eaten. "Maybe head over to the bookstore."

"Ooh." Yang cooed, and Blake could already predict the next words out of her mouth. "Going to go pay Jaune a visit?"

"You do know that I frequent that store, right? Even before Jaune got stuck working there."

"Yeah yeah, excuses excuses." Yang wrapped her arm around Ren's neck. "Me and Renny here don't believe it for a second, right, Ren?"

"I believe it." Ren stated, causing Yang to push him away.

"Neither of you are any fun today. Jeez." She pouted before offering Blake a smile. "Well, I guess we'll just catch you on the flipside then?"

Blake nodded. "I'll be sure to be back soon. Maybe we can do something else together before the day is over."

Yang looked a bit surprised at her partners comment. "Oh? Really? That'd be pretty cool." Ren seemed to be pleased with the suggestion as well, nodding with approval.

"Well, I'm off." Blake waved as she turned and began walking away before she was stopped by a rather burly looking man in an apron.

The man held up a rather long looking piece of paper in front of her, allowing her to look at it. "Excuse me, miss. There's still the matter of your bill."

"Oh uh..." Blake glanced around for a moment before turning back to her team, only to find that Yang was quickly dragging Ren away. "Sorry, Blakey! We're not the ones who ate half the ocean today!" The blonde shouted back as she took off running.

Blake felt her eyebrow twitch a bit as she turned back to the man and flashed him a fake smile.

 _Dammit..._

* * *

Jaune wiped his forehead of sweat as he finished unloading another box. Gazing up at the shelves, he was proud of himself for making them so neat and orderly before he turned and marched towards the back room.

"And you're sure this information is credible?" He heard a feminine voice mumble through the wall. He blinked a few times in confusion. When did someone enter the store and move to the back? And what were they talking about?

...Well, it wasn't really his place to eavesdrop on his boss, but-

"Yes, the information is credible. I've been supplying you with it for months, do you think I'd turn my back on you now?" That voice sounded like Tukson. Now Jaune found his curiosity piqued as he leaned his ear against the shelf closest to the wall. "It is hard to say. After all, the last batch of information you gave us led to a very unfortunate run in with the local law. And at a very convenient time as well."

Local law? Were they talking about the police? What was Tukson doing that involved the police?

"Maybe you all just had some bad luck. Your new recruits aren't as smart as they used to be, after all. You'd think they'd never been trained for anything in their life."

Recruits? Recruits for what?

"Well, there is a rally tonight. Perhaps maybe our number one informant in the city could make a guest appearance and "inform" them on how to not be caught in the future."

And now there was talk of a rally? ...Was Tukson doing something illegal?

"I... have things I need to do."

"Tukson. Your brothers and sisters are growing very... concerned. You do not stay in contact as much as you used to, and the recent accidents involving the law have... let's just say, worried the higher ups."

Jaune scratched his chin for a moment. Brothers and sisters? Did Tukson join some kind of insane cult? Was he right about that book being occult type stuff?

"I think it would make everyone feel quite a lot better if you were to show up at tonight's rally. Otherwise..."

"Are you threatening me, Daisy?"

"Oh no, not at all. But if you continue down the path that you are on now, I can no longer guarantee your safety within the organization."

Organization? So it wasn't quite a cult, but it wasn't exactly that far off either. He was also doubting the theory that it could be a company, since organizations that have unfortunate run ins with the police often don't do things that could be considered legal. And now they were threatening Tukson? That wasn't good. Did that mean he would be threatened just because he could be considered an associate?

"So they don't trust me anymore, then?" Tukson asked.

"I'm only stating the obvious, Tukson, dear."

"Then I suppose I'll have to do something about that."

"Should I tell the Fang leaders to be expecting you?"

"I never said that I would-" Jaune pushed against the shelf harder, not realizing that he was also pushing a number of books off balance. It wasn't long until the entire pile came crashing down on him, causing him to yell out in distress. There was a silence after that, whatever conversation that was taking place seemed to be over now that he had drawn attention to it. With a sigh, Jaune quickly cleaned up the mess he had made.

After he had done so, he decided that now would probably be the best time for a break. As he walked behind the counter, another person, the person he assumed Tukson was talking to, bumped into him. The person in question was a woman who seemed to have what looked like a small set of moose antlers coming out of the top of her head, her emerald eyes locked onto his blue pools and pierced them deeply. "Oh. Hello." She greeted, a crude smile forming on her face as she got a bit closer.

Jaune gulped nervously as he took a step back, the older woman stepping forward as if to chase after him. "My, aren't you an adorable little wolf." She cooed as she reached out with a hand, briefly running it across his cheek.

"Wh- you... you know I'm a Faunus?"

The woman seemed bothered by his question, frowning a bit as she took a step back. "Are you trying to hide that information?"

"I mean... uh... not really?"

"You shouldn't hide who you are, young man. After all, how will we ever improve our status in society if we hide away like the animals humanity thinks we are?" She leaned closer to him, making him a bit uncomfortable. "You do want our relations to improve, right?" With a gulp, Jaune nodded slowly, something that seemed to make the woman happier. "That's good..." She cooed as she placed her hand on her cheek. "Tell me, have you ever thought of putting those canine instincts to good use? After all, I know of a way that you could help further our movement."

"I uh... I mean I... mo-movement?"

"Oh yes, I'm part of a movement that helps further cement our peoples place in society. We're-"

"Bad news. Leave him alone, Daisy. He's too young." Both of them turned to see Tukson standing behind the moose faunus, his arms firmly folded across his chest. "And he's not going to buy whatever you're selling him."

The woman named Daisy gave Tukson a brief scowl before she turned back to Jaune. She gazed into his eyes for a moment before she let out a small pout and pushed him out of the way, storming out of the store in a less than orderly fashion.

Tukson let out a sigh before he turned back to Jaune. "Listen, Jaune. I'm gonna level with you. You're a good kid, and I don't want to see you get mixed up with them. If any Faunus ask you to join up with them, you say no."

"Uh, alright?" Jaune glanced back momentarily to see the woman still storming off. "Are they in some kind of gang?"

"Yeah." Tukson walked back to the store counter and began rummaging through a few documents that were on it. "A bad one. So stay out of their way." He then picked out a few documents from the pile and shuffled them into a beige folder, pushing it under his arm before turning back to Jaune. "Listen, I've got to go take care of a few things. I'll probably be gone for an hour or so. You should be okay holding the shop down until then, right?"

"You got it, sir!"

Tukson gave him a thumbs up before he turned and walked out the door. Jaune waited calmly for a few moments, watching his boss walk down the street and out of sight. And then he quickly rushed over to the door, his eyes glancing left and right rather slyly as he checked to see if the coast was clear. Glancing down at the open sign below him, he grinned as his hand reached out for it, flipping the sign over so that it said closed instead of open. It was the slow time of day anyways, so he was sure that his boss wouldn't mind if he closed the store for an hour or so. Right?

Jaune quickly slipped into the back room and began sifting through the fridge in the employee lounge, grabbing a bottle of water before sitting down at the table to take a breather. He wouldn't just lay around the ENTIRE time his boss was gone, but for right now he was certainly going to take at least a twenty minute break. And it did give him time to sort out his thoughts on that Fang business that just happened in front of him.

What was this "Fang" gang that had Tukson so shaken up? Especially since from the conversation he had eavesdropped on prior to that hinted at Tukson being involved with the gang. It did sound like the older Faunus wanted out of whatever it was they were doing, and it also sounded like one of those old movie cliches where the only way out of a gang like that is death. And that would be-

He paused for a moment, a sound reaching his ears. It sounded almost like the bell situated on the stores front door ringing... but that wasn't right. The shop was closed, nobody would even think to try and come in, would they? No, nobody would. It had to be his imagination. Ignoring whatever sound he had heard, he propped his feet up on top of the table and stared up at the ceiling as he relaxed. He let out a soft yawn as he began to get a bit drowsy, it always was easy for him to fall asleep anywhere. He probably would have dosed off completely if a movement didn't catch his eye.

It looked as if for a brief moment, a shadow had quickly passed by the break room. He blinked a few times to clear up his vision. He was already in the process of falling asleep, that was probably just a product of that, right? He soon found that he was wrong, as his ears picked up the sound of someone rummaging through the boxes in the stock room. Great, now I have to deal with a possible break-in. He thought to himself as he quietly hopped to his feet and crept out of the break room.

It didn't take much sneaking to find out that his fear of someone breaking and entering the store was correct. Someone was currently bent over, examining the contents of a box. Jaune stared silently at the person, watching them as they continued to shuffle through a box of books, their rear sticking up in the air as they did so. Jaune blinked a few times, why were his eyes drawn to the persons rear? He was now silently praying to himself that this thief was female, because then he could feel a bit less disturbed by his actions. Probably.

He finally worked up the courage to garner the persons attention, clearing his throat just before he spoke. "Scuse me, but the store is closed." He started, the person nearly leaping five feet off the ground before they turned to face him. "I'm going to have to ask you to- BLAKE?!"

Her amber eyes went wide as she looked at him, her mouth half open. "Jaune?! Wh-what are you doing here? The store is closed!"

"Eheh... uuuhh..." He trailed off, shrugging his shoulders in the process. "I sorta... put that sign there myself. So I could..." He paused. "Take a break..."

Blake let out a soft groan, placing a hand to her forehead as she shut her eyes. Then that means I don't have a lot of time... "Fine. I'll be gone in a few minutes." She quickly turned back and bent down once again, this time with her arms resting on her knees.

"Uh, Blake you can't just rummage through our stock like this, I mean-"

"Shut up, Jaune." She snapped back, causing him to straighten like a board. A nervous and quiet "Yes Ma'am." was the only response she got. She continued her search for a few more minutes, only occasionally wondering if Jaune was still standing behind her silently watching her work. But those thoughts were dropped almost immediately when she found the book she was looking for.

It was a white book with a red emblem on it. She knew it well enough, it was the emblem of the White Fang. Picking the book up, she quickly turned and nearly bumped into Jaune. The blonde was still standing in the same spot before, watching her intently. She glared at him, hoping that he would get the message. He did not. "Move." She demanded, causing him to nearly leap away from her.

Blake made her way into the break room, throwing the book down on the table before she flipped it open. The contents of the book were strange to say the least, it seemed to be a very detailed encyclopedia on the various fish that could be found in the oceans of Vale. She pursed her lips as she continued to read through the book. She had seen this before, to most people it would look like a perfectly normal guide to local fish with a strange cover.

To trained individuals, they would see a needle hidden in a haystack. Or rather, a message hidden in a bunch of random tips on how to catch a tuna. Flipping through the pages, she noticed that the very edge of each page had a small tab that was color coded with each of the primary colors, along with white and black. That was what she was looking for. She quickly reached into her pocket and brought out her scroll, switching the device into its camera mode. She began to snap pictures of certain pages, she would need to take this info with her. There wasn't time to sit down and decode it all here.

Jaune watched as his teammate began snapping photos of the books contents. Strangely enough, he noticed that she was skipping a lot of the books pages. She seemed to only take pictures of pages that were color coded with either red or white tabs. Was there some kind of connection with those colors? Even the books main color scheme reflected it...

When she was finished, she closed the book and turned around. This time he knew to get out of her way before she had to ask. Or rather, demand. Following her back into the storage room, he watched as she tossed the book back in the box and buried it underneath a few of the other ones that she had removed. Once she was finished, she made her way out of the room and back out into the front of the store.

"Jaune, don't tell Tukson I was here or what I did, got it?" She demanded as she spun around to face him.

"Wh-what?"

She glared at him, sending shivers up his spine. "I'm serious, Jaune."

"Okay, okay! I won't!" He raised his hands up as if to shield himself. "But can you tell me WHY you were here? And what you were doing? What's up with that book, and why is it making you act so... I dunno, scared?" He watched as she stared at him for a few moments in silence before she let out a sigh and walked up to him. She reached out to place a hand on his shoulder, an action which almost made him flinch.

"Look... I'm sorry about being so rude to you earlier." He couldn't help but notice how she refused to meet his gaze as she continued to speak. "Don't worry about the book. It's nothing."

"It sure looks like something. Maybe I can he-"

"Just leave it, Jaune. If it is anything, I can... well, we'll know if it's something, alright?"

He reluctantly nodded. He had a feeling that she wasn't exactly telling the whole truth on this situation, but he wasn't in a position to begin trying to interrogate her. Blake quickly left the store after that, leaving him shaken up for the rest of his shift.

It didn't help when Tukson came back, his boss's presence making him even more anxious. After all, could it be possible that Tukson wasn't as trustworthy and nice like he thought he was. There was just a sense of foreboding in the air that Jaune found himself being unable to shake.

Perhaps maybe it was time for him to find out what this "Fang" gang was all about?


	7. Chapter 6 - Researchence

Jaune let out a sigh as he plopped down at the desk, gazing into a pitch-black computer screen. Everyone always turned the computers off when they were finished instead of just shutting the monitor down like they were SUPPOSED to do. A short start up time later, he found himself surfing the RemNet. Given the fact that he had absolutely no idea on where to start looking for information, he did the first thing that came to mind. He simply typed in "Fang organization" into the search engine. A few clicks later, and he had found what he wanted with startling accuracy.

The White Fang. That was the name of the group that Tukson was possibly involved with. And it certainly wasn't a good group, given the fact that there were many news articles talking about acts of extreme violence, robbery, and even extreme methods of terrorism like bombings and... "Eugh..." Jaune covered his eyes and quickly scrolled down. A particularly lovely picture of a decapitated body had graced the screen, apparently being involved in a hostage situation a few years ago in Ifrit, a small desert town in Vacuo.

He really did NOT need to see something like that today.

He quickly closed the window and searched for another, this one being an actually informative looking article rather than being one that was mostly just fear mongering. The White Fang was started as a peaceful organization that regularly tried its hardest to enforce Faunus rights through non-violent protests and other activities. Despite their efforts to keep things as civilized as possible, they were not met with the same kindness by most law enforcement. He had to avert his gaze once again to avoid looking at a few... colorful pictures of police brutality during a protest. Scrolling down further to get rid of them, he came across the more important part of the article.

The White Fang had apparently had an upset in its hierarchy, and all activity from the organization ceased for a few years following the event. And then it returned full force, only this time flipped on its head. Peaceful protests were replaced with all the awful things that were featured in the news articles from before. Organized attacks and vandalism were commonplace and even more unsettlingly, the group was now embracing terroristic ways such as bombings, kidnappings that lead into the very "lovely" public execution of humans that he had previously seen and so much more. And looking at the emblem that adorned the new White Fang, it was easy to see that it was the same one that was printed on those strange fish encyclopedia's at Tuksons. There wasn't any mistaking at this point, they were related.

This begged the important question, what was he supposed to do about this? Should he go to the police? But Tukson seemed so nice, heck he WAS nice! And when that one woman tried to recruit him, Tukson had stepped in and told him to not get involved with such a group. So he couldn't be a bad guy, right? But then there came the fact that Tukson had been supplying the White Fang with information, and for a long time based on the conversation that he had eavesdropped on. So his boss was certainly doing something illegal in SOME sense. But from the sounds of things, Tukson had been shirking on his duties. And his reluctance to get him, his employee, involved with his most likely bloody business with the White Fang provided evidence that maybe Tukson didn't like the White Fang that much anymore. But...

Jaune frantically scratched at his hair with both of his hands as he groaned. This was harder than he thought it would be. There were so many different conflicting thoughts going on in his head. And it's not like he could talk to anybody about this, how would he even go about that in the first place? He couldn't just walk up to his friend and say "Hey, I think my boss might be a terrorist but he's super nice and stuff, should I report him to the police?" He could always just phrase it as a hypothetical question, but it would sound awkward and suspicious if he did something like that out of the blue. So what exactly could he do? With another grunt, he decided to headbutt the desk in contemplation. The move did not provide any more clarity on his situation.

"Hey, Jaune..."

He tilted his head to the side, his eyes settling up the short, red and black colored reaper that was Ruby Rose. The young girl had a rather tired looking smile as she pulled up a chair and sat down next to him. "Hey, Ruby." He forced himself to sit up, his body slouching forward a bit while his shoulders slumped down as if to object to the action. "How have things been during your first week of school?" His fellow leader gave a tired sigh in response, causing him to to smile a bit in sympathy. "That bad, huh?"

She shook her head. "No actually, it's been a lot better lately. We-" She paused when she looked at the computer screen that Jaune was in front of. Articles and informative websites were all pulled up detailing the White Fang. "What are you looking up about the White Fang?" She asked as she tilted her head.

"Oh." Jaune quickly closed all the windows. "I just wanted to know what the White Fang was, that's all."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "...Aren't you a Faunus?"

"Y-yeah, so what?" He felt sweat forming on his forehead as he gulped nervously.

"Well I mean, shouldn't you know about the White Fang?"

He froze for a moment, not realizing what he had been doing could possibly be considered as extremely suspicious. He was a person claiming to be a Faunus who was looking up information on the White Fang, a group of Faunus only terrorists. That did not reflect on him in any positive light whatsoever. "I... didn't know what they were, and heard some people throwing the words around. So I looked them up."

She put a hand up to her chin and began to rub it. "But don't like, ALL Faunus know about the White Fang?"

Dang it Ruby, just let it go! He cleared his throat. "I think that's a little dicey to just assume something like that, Ruby. Just because I'm a Faunus means I should know everything about my fellow Faun... Fauni?" She stared at him in confusion for a moment, making him even more nervous. "L-look, I practically lived under a rock for most of my life, okay?"

Ruby looked down towards her lap, her hand coming off of her chin. "Sorry. It just sounded really weird. I mean, I lived in Patch and I really don't know anything outside of the White Fang besides them being a bad carton of eggs. So I guess I can understand that."

He chuckled as he glanced over at her. "Bad carton of eggs?"

"Its something my dad used to say." She noticed the odd smirk on his face, causing her cheeks to pinken a little as they puffed out. "Well, they are!"

He waved a hand in front of him in an attempt to defend himself from her cute pouting onslaught. "Right, right." He figured now would be a good time to change the subject. "So, you were saying things were getting better? What's that all about?"

Ruby seemed to perk up at that, jolting straight up in her chair. "Well, Weiss doesn't yell at us nearly as much anymore!" Her smile faltered a bit though, as if there was a bad side. "She uh... she really doesn't say anything at all anymore, though."

Nothing at all? That didn't sound good. "Any reason why?"

"Uh... No bad reasons. Pyrrha had a talk with her in private one day, since she's the only one that Weiss will really listens to. And I don't really think Pyrrha would say anything mean to someone's face... Or ever." That much was true. Pyrrha was always extremely polite whenever she was around anyone else. She probably didn't even know how to think negatively of others, let alone say something like that. "I don't think it's a bad kind of quiet though? I mean, Weiss still makes mean faces at us whenever we get on her nerves, but she really only yells if something bad happens." She shifted in her seat a bit. "It makes me feel... I dunno, bad?"

Jaune felt his facial features soften a bit before he furrowed his brow. "Why would you feel bad about that?"

"I dunno, I just feel like we're forcing Weiss to be someone she's not?"

"Ruby..." He placed a hand on hers, not noticing the blush on her face as she turned away from him. "That's stupid."

Her head immediately snapped back to looking at him. "Wh-WHAT?! Why is that stupid?!"

"We've been at school for like, a week and a half. We all barely know each other. Do you really think you're forcing Weiss into doing anything? She doesn't seem like the type to just roll over and take orders like that from anyone. I mean, remember that day in Port's class? You guys cheered her on and offered her tips, yet all she did was snap back at you that you were distracting her."

"That's... true." But what exactly was he getting at? "But is it a good thing that she's all quiet now?"

He shrugged in return. That was reassuring. "I'm not really sure. I mean, I'm not exactly social."

"Pfff." Ruby stuck her tongue out for a moment before reeling it back in. "When you live with Yang Xiao Long, you HAVE to be social. Whether you want to be or not."

"Heh, aw come on, Ruby. She's the best big sister in the whole world, isn't she?"

"Haha! Yeah let's not say things that make us sound crazy, Jaune."

He nudged her with his elbow, nearly sending her off of her chair from surprise. "Aw come on, she's not THAT bad!" He waited for a moment, Ruby averting her gaze before she slowly smiled and turned back to him.

"Yeah okay, fine. She's a pretty cool big sis." And she was on his team, not hers. She wondered how that was working out. "How has she been? I know I see her every day now, but I haven't had the chance to sit down and really talk with her since school began."

"She's been good. I guess. She's certainly helped out a lot."

She stifled a giggle. "Yang? Helping? Okay now I KNOW you're crazy!"

"It's true!" He folded his arms over his chest in defiance. It certainly was, without her their team probably would still be complete strangers who just happened to be staying in a dorm together. "She's gotten us to go out on a team outing already for some bonding. I think it went over..." And then he remembered the part of his day where everyone ditched him. "...well enough."

"So Yang isn't having any trouble..." But then again, why would she? Yang never had any trouble making friends back at signal. "What about that Blake girl?"

 _Yeah._ He thought to himself. _What about that Blake girl?_ There was still so much about her that he didn't know. He didn't even know where she came from, something that he already knew about his other teammates. "Her? She's... quiet. We've only had maybe two real conversations with each other." They were more like half conversations, but she still did speak to him. "She comes by the bookstore every now and then, but she doesn't say a whole lot."

"You're still working at the bookstore?"

"My last day is tomorrow, actually." He sighed ever so lightly at the end of his sentence, almost as if that was a bad thing.

"So maybe when you're done we can all hang out with each other!" That would be fun, and maybe he could help with Weiss more?

He smiled in response, but she couldn't help but notice that it looked as if he was forcing it a little. "Yeah, Maybe."

Deciding that work wasn't the best thing to talk about, she attempted to switch the subject back to his team. Which she still really didn't know a whole lot about outside of her own sister. "What about Ren?"

"Well, Ren is... Uuuuuuh..." He blanked. When had he actually had a real conversation with Ren? He had plenty of conversations with Blake and Yang, but Ren? When the green ninja spoke, he spoke in short sentences. Any actual conversations that he's had, he's really only had with Yang. At least, if she was even telling the truth when she said that.

And then his senses were quite literally shaken back to reality as Ruby grabbed hold of his shoulders and violently rocked him back and forth in a panic. "JAUNE?! ARE YOU HAVING A STROKE?!"

He could feel his eyeballs spinning in his head. "Wh-what?"

"You've been sitting there for like fifteen seconds just going "Uh" and "Um" so I thought maybe you were stroking out or something..."

"Oh." He coughed a little as his head continued to spin from the turbulence that he had just gone through. "No, I was just trying to think of a time where I actually sat down and talked to Ren." And he couldn't think of any at all.

"...Glad to see I'm not the only one with team troubles."

"Eh, I don't know if would call them troubles. I've kinda had a busy week."

Ruby placed a hand over her mouth as she snickered. "Yeah, you're probably the first person to get in trouble this early in a school semester." And this was only his first one. She could only imagine what he would do next semester.

"Hey look, I-" He stopped when his scroll began vibrating in his pocket. He quickly fished it out and saw that the alarm he set for when he needed to start making his way into Vale had gone off. And he was no closer to figuring out what he was going to do about his boss. "Uh... I guess it's time for me to head to work." Ruby looked visibly upset over the interruption, making him feel a bit worse about the situation. "Sorry. But only today and tomorrow left!"

As he got up out of his chair and turned to leave, he felt a hand grab onto his arm. "Wait!" Turning around, he saw that Ruby had practically leaped out of her chair after him. "I still want to ask you a question. What should I do about Weiss?"

"...Huh?"

"You've been getting along together with your team, even after Yang accidentally made fun of you."

"She apologized though."

Ruby sighed. "I know, but... I just don't know what to do with Weiss..."

"..." Jaune's gaze quickly turned toward the ground. "...Ruby... I don't know either."

Ruby looked absolutely baffled by his answer. "Buh- what?"

"Ruby, I'm not some expert on teams. I'm not really even a social guy. The ONLY reason I've had any kind of a relationship with my team so far is because of Yang. And on top of all that, I don't even know anything about Weiss aside from her name." He shrugged. "I just don't know what to do."

The light in Ruby's eyes drained a little as her head slumped, making him feel even worse. It was like all the color was sucked out of her. "Oh... okay... sorry for bothering you about it."

Great going, Jaune. "Look, I'll throw out a suggestion and say just wait. If she doesn't improve, then maybe it's time to have a serious talk with her yourself. You ARE the team leader after all."

"But how am I supposed to talk to her? She doesn't open up to anyone!"

"...Hm." He placed a hand on his chin. She was right, Weiss certainly looked cold from a distance. Blake seemed to be the same way. "Just do what my mom always told me to do. She used to say that talking to people, even if it's just about how their day went, can sometimes get them to open up to you."

"...That's dumb, Jaune."

He smiled in response. "It won't sound so dumb if it works now, will it?" Of course, this didn't do much to improve his friends mood. "I'm sorry I can't be of much help."

Ruby seemed to perk up just a little bit at the apology, a timid smile creeping onto her face. "That's okay, thanks anyway."

With a short goodbye, the two of them separated. As Jaune made his way out of the library, he could feel his stomach slowly twisting into a knot over the realization that now he had to deal with Tukson.

What exactly was he going to do?

* * *

Blake let out a tired sigh as she continued to mull over the pictures she had taken at Tuksons yesterday. There was something hidden in the words of this book, it was very common for the White Fang to do so. Her experience in decoding such messages would prove to be helpful again, which was something she had been hoping she wouldn't have to tell herself. Her finger slid across the scrolls touch screen, sending away one picture only to replace it with another. This time it was of the books side while it was closed, the pages and their colored tabs visible for her.

The book seemed to be divided into sections, with each section being color coded via the tabs that were on each page's top corner. It seemed as though that every color of the rainbow was present as her eyes scanned the tabs in order. But she did pick out something interesting. As she had previously thought, there were four specific tabs that were not where they should be. Two white and two red tabs found themselves randomly scattered in sections where they did not belong.

To most people, this would seem like a simple printing error. But she knew better. Flicking her finger across the scrolls surface yet again, she brought up the picture that detailed the first white tab. It was a page dedicated to the Ridgefin Vale Salmon, a fish that was famous for its fins having ridges that could be compared to the various mountains that surrounded the great city. It was also a fish that she had developed a particular taste for during the fair yesterday. She pursed her lips as she continued to scan the words written on the page, finding nothing of interest amidst the sea of basic information on the fish. After several more minutes of searching through the pages text, she decided to move on to the next white tab. With a swipe of her finger, the image scrolled to the next.

And as she took in the sight of the next page, she was confused. It was the same exact page as the previous, with the same exact picture and text. She blinked a few times. Had she made a mistake? Did her scroll take only a picture of the first page and not the second? What had the second white tab page originally been, and why couldn't she remember it? Her eyes drifted to the page number in the top left corner of the picture. "Four hundred eighty seven..." she mumbled to herself as she swiped a finger in the opposite direction, causing the previous image to scroll back into view.

Her eyes immediately locked onto the location of the page number. Three hundred sixty two. How did that make any sense? They were two separate pages in two separate sections of the book, but they detailed the same exact thing down to every last detail. Was this an actual misprint? Or was it a trick into making people THINK it was a misprint? Was there a hidden detail somewhere on both of these pages that she had missed? She growled as she began to flip back and forth between the two pictures, playing a twisted game of spot the difference with herself. She used to decode things like this all the time, and now a simple fishing encyclopedia was getting the better of her? She would not allow it to happen.

"Hey, Blakey!"

Her eyes snapped up from her scroll, taking in the sight of her partner who was now standing over her, grinning like an idiot. She could feel her lips purse even tighter as she straightened out her posture a little. Why now? She didn't have time to be messing around with her teammate. "What is it, Yang?"

If Yang was discouraged by the sudden hostile tone in Blake's voice, then she did not show it. "Well, I wanted to talk about a certain something that a certain someone told me the other day at a certain sea fair."

"Then I suppose you should go talk to them." She snapped back as her eyes refocused on the pictures at hand.

Yang's smile almost immediately vanished, her brow furrowing a little as she stared at her partner. "Woah, okay. What got into you today?"

"Nothing got into me. I'm just doing something right now, that's all." Why couldn't she just take the damn hint?

"Well, maybe you'd like to do something with me instead? Like you said you would?" Yang's smile returned as she held up two scraps of paper, which were nestled in her fingers. "I got these tickets to this new action flick, and since you seem to have a thing for... ninjas, I figured it was right up your alley."

"No thank you." The response was quick and polite, yet it sounded anything but.

"Aw come on, it might lighten your mood a little!" Yang began dangling the tickets in front of of her partner, ignoring the look of anger that was quickly growing on her face. "Besides, you said-"

Blake swiped the tickets out of her partners hand, the papers floating away from her bed as if they had been caught up by a breeze. "I said NO! Just leave me alone, Yang!" She continued to glare at the blonde in front of her before she finally registered the look on her partners face. Yang took a step back, the hurt on her face staying for only a brief moment before tightening into a scowl.

"Fine. Sit there and be miserable. Can't say I didn't try, though." She growled back before she walked over to the tickets and picked them up off the floor. There was no sense in letting them go to waste just because her partner had something wedged far up her... Maybe Ruby would want to go see the movie with her instead. She turned on her heels rather quickly and stomped her way out the door, making sure to slam it for good measure.

Blake let out a tired sigh. She shouldn't have been as hostile as she was... but she didn't really have much of a choice. This book was bad news. It meant the White Fang was on the move, and they had their sights set on something here in Vale, without a doubt. She didn't have time to just sit around and play stupid games, to watch pointless movies... to make false friends. She stared into her scroll for quite some time, not even acknowledging the pictures that she had. It wasn't until the screen went black, forcing her to stare into her own reflection, did she begin to think of what this all meant for her. She let out another sigh. Why? Why did they have to suddenly appear now? And why here of all places? Why couldn't she have...?

She scowled at her own reflection. A hand went for her bow, her fingers grasping the side of it gently. She began to rub the fabric inbetween her fingers as she glanced around the empty dorm room. With a gentle but firm tug, her bow was freed from the top of her head. Grasping the fabric in her hand, she placed it on the bed next to her before turning her attention back to the reflection in her scroll. She gazed at the top of her head where the bow had been, and stared at the two objects that had replaced it. Cat ears. Her ears.

The ears that she had been successful in hiding all this time, and swore that she would be successful in continuing to hide until the day came that she didn't have to anymore. She couldn't say that she wasn't proud of her heritage, because she was. But as it stood at that very moment, the only thing that those ears sparked were fear, anger and self loathing. They were a reminder of who she really was, but also a reminder of what was still chasing her. It seemed as if no matter how long she ran, no matter how far... The White Fang would always find her again. So again she had to ask...

Why couldn't she have stopped it before?

She shook herself back to reality and quickly wrapped her ears up within her bow once more. Now wasn't the time to get sentimental, now was the time for action. Tapping her scroll once again, the screen came to life and displayed the images that she had previously been looking at. Deciding that there was nothing more that could be gained from staring at the two pictures for now, she swiped them away with her finger and brought up the next picture. This time it was a page with a red tab, detailing the Valian Catfish.

This catfish was unique to Vale, and rightfully so. Each of its individual whiskers split off at the very tip, forming extremely small V shapes that they used for self defense. It was also a delicacy that she found no irony in eating. She began scanning the page for any information that could be useful to her, and yet again her search came up dry. It was another detailed article on the fish pictured, nothing out of the ordinary. As her finger went to swipe it away and get the next picture, she remembered to keep track of the page number. "Nine hundred sixty six." She repeated to herself out loud as the next picture came into view, causing her to groan in frustration.

Yet again it was an exact copy of the previous page on catfish. Two times this had happened now, two exact copies of two fish. At this point it could at least be confirmed that it was anything but a misprint. It had to be intentional, there had to be some kind of hidden meaning behind this. But what that hidden meaning was, she didn't know. It kept eluding her grasp. Perhaps maybe the information she sought wasn't within the text, but within the pictures themselves? It was a viable option, considering the fact that both tabs were replicated. With a few swipes of her finger, both pictures of the fish were brought side by side, allowing her to quickly compare the two of them. She stared at both pictures for what seemed like an eternity, her eyes feeling as if they would soon permanently cross together. It took her a long time, but after studying the pictures to the best of her ability she had finally deduced that the pictures were...

Absolutely the same.

With another possible lead down the drain, she let out a heavy sigh as she idly glanced at the picture of the catfish page up and down. There wasn't anything left for her to pick out, yet she knew that this couldn't possibly be a dead end. Or perhaps it could have been? Maybe the white and red tabs were simply there as a red... herring. Horrible coincidental joke aside, it was entirely possible that she had taken pictures of the wrong pages...

That changed when her eyes glanced over a peculiar detail that didn't seem to line up. A number was printed on the page next to the word "Length" that stated the fish was approximately twenty feet long on the dot. How was that even possible? Valian Catfish don't even come close to that length, not unless it was some sort of monstrosity that was infused with dust or some other crazy experiment... She swiped her finger and brought up the other picture of the second catfish, her eyes quickly locking onto the determined length of it. This one was claiming to be... fifty inches? How did that make any sense whatsoever? One fish was twenty feet and the other of the same species fifty inches? That was...

That was exactly what she was looking for.

The revelation hit her all at once. Flicking her finger back to the Ridgefin Salmon, she studied their lengths as well. The first was stated to be eight inches, while the second was estimated to be four feet. This was what she was looking for, there was no doubt about it. But what was the significance of these numbers? Were they a code for something? Perhaps maybe if she translated them into letters they would offer her an answer? Or could they be for something else entirely? Grabbing a pen and paper, she quickly wrote down each page number and the matching length of the fish found on that page, along with the type of fish that was associated with that length. This was her ticket to decoding this whole situation.

With renewed vigor, Blake smirked as she stowed her scroll and picked up the piece of paper that she had written on. She quickly threw on her boots and practically dashed out the door, her destination the school library. She would decode this, and with the information that it held she would be able to put a stop to anything the White Fang had planned before it could ever begin again. She would stop it this time, permanently.

At least, that was what she was hoping for.


	8. Chapter 7 - Claws for Alarm

Jaune could feel his legs stiffening as he continued to get closer to his destination. Mostly because he still had yet to reach a conclusion on what he was going to do about his boss being a possible terrorist.

Once he finally turned the corner and began taking the last few steps that would put him in front of Tukson's Book Trade, his body began to lock up even more. When he finally managed to drag himself in front of the store, he couldn't help but notice something that was almost immediately off about it. All the windows were dark.

Tukson almost never used the window darkener, unless the store was closing for the day or he was going on break for a longer period of time. So why were they dark now? Could there be another shady deal going on at this very moment? Just the thought of that alone was enough to send a shiver up his spine. If he walked in on something bad instead of just eavesdropping, he would most definitely be setting himself up with a one way ticket to the bottom of one of the harbors on either side of Vale with a shiny new pair of cement shoes.

"I should stop reading all those mafia books..."

He reached out and placed a hand on the door, gritting his teeth as he forced his arm to push against it and open it up. With a ring, the door opened and he stepped inside the store once again. And the sights that he saw were completely and utterly baffling. Most of the stores shelves had been completely cleaned out, devoid of any book. Boxes were stacked up high and low, some of them still open enough to showcase that many of the books that had a home around the store were now shoved in them, haphazardly at that. Without even noticing, Jaune took a few steps forward before he began to wander around the store. He was in complete awe with how fast the store had been cleaned over night. Stepping over to the counter, he heard the sounds of disgruntled mumbling before a loud thump resonated from the wooden structure.

Tukson quickly raised himself out from underneath the counter, cradling the back of his head. "OW! SON OF A BI-" He paused as his eyes locked with Jaunes. "Oh. Jaune. What are you doing here?"

"I uh, I still have today and tomorrow left to work, remember sir?"

Tukson looked rather unsure of himself for a moment before he nodded. "Right. Uh, right..."

There was a strange silence that followed, something that Tukson never allowed for more than a second or two. "Uh, sir? What exactly is going on?"

"Ah... Well..." The older man's hand snaked from the back of his head to the back of his neck, now cradling it instead. "Ya see, a lot has happened this past week." He paused for a moment, his face scrunching up a bit as he tried to think of a decent explanation. "A lot that's kinda bad for my business." Tukson began gesturing to the boxes that littered the store. "So I've decided to pack up my things and head on back to my hometown in Vacuo. Settle down with the rest of my family."

"So you're just leaving like that? Isn't there anything else you can do to save your store?"

Tukson clicked his teeth together as he stared at the blonde. "Yeah. And I'm afraid there isn't. Financial issues just don't go away when you've got bad business."

This was certainly an unexpected turn of events. "Right. So uh, do you want me to help you pack?"

Tukson smiled at the offer, chuckling a bit as he picked up another box off the floor. "Sure. I guess I DO still technically got ya till tomorrow, just like you said. I won't deny the help. Just start packing books in boxes and then bring em to the back."

Jaune nodded, mostly to himself, before setting off for the fullest shelf. On his way there, he made sure to pick up an empty box so that he actually had something to put the books in. As he began the mindless work, his thoughts drifted back to the very important topic on what he would do about Tukson. He was leaving town now, so that meant he was either running from something or being moved to a different location to help out another group of White Fang extremists. With the way that one Faunus spoke to him the other day, he could harbor a guess that it could be either or. And with Tukson saying that it was "financial issues" that were driving him out of town, Jaune knew that probing him for information would be extremely suspicious. And it most likely wouldn't work, either.

For now, he would just wait and continue to mull the thoughts around in his head. Hopefully the work would make his creative thoughts flow enough to come up with an answer to his problem.

* * *

Blake sat down in her chair with a crude plop, tossing the piece of paper onto the desk in front of her. With the press of a button, the computer that also rested on said desk whirred to life and quickly loaded up. Removing the paper from atop the keyboard, she glanced at the numbers that she had written down. Twenty, fifty, eight and forty. Those were the numbers that she had gotten from the pages. And now she needed to figure out what they meant. She placed the paper down beside the keyboard before her fingers drifted over to the keys, tapping the listed numbers into the search engine.

First she would try addresses, though the numbers didn't seem to fit that format. And just as she suspected, there were no addresses in Vale that came close to matching the numbers she had. There were a few in Mistral and Atlas, but that would mean very little to the White Fang stationed in Vale, even if they were orders. So the possibility of the numbers being an address was most likely completely null. Then what exactly were they for? It couldn't be a zip code, there were far too many numbers. And even if she only used five digits, she would still have two left. The White Fang was smart, but it was never smart enough to leave dummy info layered with actual info like that.

With a sigh, she leaned back in her chair and picked up the piece of paper. Her eyes lazily drifted over the numbers again and again in an attempt to figure out their greater meaning. There weren't very many more possibilities as to what these numbers could mean. If they were a code, then they were useless to her, as she didn't possess the knowledge as to where it could be used.

It couldn't be a phone number, since there weren't enough numbers. And even if it was, calling it would most likely be futile as there would more than likely be some sort of password or phrase that she would need to know to get any further if someone were to answer her. It really did seem like she was about to hit a huge wall once again.

Her eyes settled upon the number twenty and the apostrophe that followed it. She hadn't remembered why she wrote down the numbers as if they were the actual lengths being presented in the book, but she had. And now that she stared at the apostrophe longer, a thought began creeping into her head. There were still ways to use the numbers she had discovered, and it was something that she had very nearly overlooked. She would be kicking herself mentally if she didn't suddenly hit a realization dead on. The numbers could very well be coordinates for something! Or rather, somewhere.

She leaned forward and brought her hands back to the keyboard, tapping away as she entered in the coordinates for the first set of numbers, twenty and fifty. They centered in on a group of stores located in Vale's shopping district. Her lips pursed as she pondered on the implications of this location. It was in a public place, so it would be impossible for a White Fang meeting to take place there. Perhaps those weren't the coordinates she needed?

She glanced at the second set of numbers before punching those into the search as well. Another meaningless location in the residential district. Neither of these locations would be a possible location for any White Fang activity of any kind. So then why were they the coordinates given? She scratched the side of her head for a moment before trying something else. This time, she put in twenty and forty. It was still too close to the shopping district, so that was out yet again.

She continued to enter the numbers in different orders until she had exhausted every possibility. Many of the locations she had found were completely worthless for holding any kind of gathering, as they were in areas that were publicly available. Two however, stood out in particular. Both within the industrial district, one was a warehouse near the south-western end and the other was the docks close by.

The two locations also seemed to line up well with the location of Tuksons shop, which was just on the outskirts of the district itself. She had always taken the location as an odd one, but if it was always meant to be a place of information for the White Fang, having it within reaching distance of their bases of operation would be beneficial.

But even with all the info that she now had, there still wasn't enough. And there wouldn't be enough until she did the one thing that she was hoping she wouldn't need to do. She would need to head to these locations and scout them out. That was the only way to be one-hundred percent sure that they were White Fang hotspots. With a sigh, she quickly erased her search history before shutting down the computer. Pushing herself out of her chair, she began making her way towards the locker rooms in order to retrieve her weapon.

She had no plans on getting into any fights tonight, but better to be safe than sorry.

* * *

Once the store had been thoroughly packed, Jaune managed to convince Tukson to lower the window blockers to brighten the place up. A calm orange light flowed into the room, showing that the sun was hanging quite low in the sky. As he plopped one final box down, he brought his now free arm up to his forehead and furiously wiped the sweat off his brow. Only one more day of this work, and he would finally have his afternoons to himself again. It was something that he was certainly looking forward to.

"Kid? What are you still doing here? It's way passed your quittin' time?"

He turned to see Tukson staring at him with a look of concern on his face. "Huh? What time is it?"

"Well, considering it's almost dark out I'd say late. I think you even skipped dinner."

...Had he really skipped dinner? He didn't feel hungry at all. But the suns position in the sky certainly didn't lie, it was late. "Uh. Wow. I didn't even realize it... I guess I'd better go."

With a nod Tukson went back to working on packing the things behind the counter. "Guess I'll see you tomorrow then. Since it's your last day and all, I figured I'd maybe cut you some slack and let you just hang out for awhile."

"Uh, thanks sir, but I think I'd feel a little bad just lounging around while you did work."

Tukson chuckled a bit as he waved Jaune off. "Aah don't worry about it. You've got enough work to do at Beacon I'm sure."

"Heh... right."

Jaune turned and pushed the door open, stepping out onto the street before stopping completely. As he stood in front of the door, he pondered to himself for a moment. Despite the fact that Tukson was potentially dangerous, Jaune had decided that he would let him go without a problem. After all, Tukson seemed more like a man trying to get away from his current life just as he was. It was a little naive to just make that assumption, but Tukson really did seem like he was too nice to just commit random acts of terrorism.

And with that decision made, he felt a weight lift from his shoulders. It was as if he had been carrying around a Goliath with him for the past two days, and he was glad to finally be rid of it.

As Jaune turned to walk down the sidewalk, he nearly collided with another person. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." He apologized as he glanced up at the person, revealing them to be none other than his black haired teammate. "B-Blake?!"

He took a step backwards and cracked a small smile. "We seriously need to stop running into each other like this."

She smiled in return, though something about it looked rather hollow. "Heh, I suppose we should. Otherwise Yang might start spreading rumors." The two of them shared a brief laugh before realizing the implications of Yang and rumor spreading, causing the two of them to stare awkwardly at each other.

"O-oh... Uh... I've got some bad news though. About Tuksons..."

Bad news about Tuksons? That certainly didn't sound good. Had the White Fang done something to him? "What happened?"

"Well..." He glanced back to the closed sign. "He says he's moving back to Vacuo. Said that he ran into financial troubles and can't keep the store open anymore."

A standard excuse. One that she would have believed had she not seen the White Fang books first hand. "Oh. That's... horrible..." But she was still saddened to see her favorite bookstore close down right in front of her.

"Yeah, I'm bummed about it too, and my only experience with the place has been work. Tuksons a really nice guy..." Or at least, on the outside he was.

Jaune watched as the sun finally dipped below the horizon, a blanket of shadows rolling over the city as the lights began to turn on of their own accord. Which sparked the interesting question as to why Blake was out so late in the first place? "So how come you're in this part of town so late?"

"Well, uh..." She wasn't prepared for someone actually asking her about this. "I was going to check out a store down the street there." She pointed her thumb over her shoulder, hoping that it would be a decent enough bluff.

"But... That street goes to the shipyards." It wasn't.

"I uh... I..." She really needed something to help her right now. A distraction of some kind, or perhaps something that could swing the topic in another direction and make him forget...

Unfortunately, Blake got what she wanted as the sudden sounds of an explosion rang out in the distance.

The ground shook lightly for a moment, before a cloud of debris began rising from behind the buildings in the distance. Both Blake and Jaune stared at the rising cloud in awe before the sudden realization kicked in that they were witnessing the fallout of an explosion. And for a moment, neither of them knew what to do. It wasn't before the screams of civilians rang out along with the sounds of gunfire to compliment them. The streets were soon filled with chaos as people began running in the opposite direction. Both of them had no idea what was going on or what they should do. However, one scream in particular was picked out of the mob.

"THE WHITE FANG ARE ATTACKING!"

Blake's eyes went wide as she registered the shout for a second time, just to make sure she had heard it properly. And in that instant, everything lined up. The locations she had found on the map weren't for the White Fang to gather at, they were for the White Fang to attack. They were all sites that were specifically picked to be bombed. She didn't even feel herself move, but found herself running in the direction of the shipyards with dizzying speed. If the White Fang were there, and if they were attacking civilians, then she needed to be the one to stop them.

Jaune's senses snapped back to reality when he witnessed Blake turn towards the source of the explosion and take off running, an event that terrified him greatly. Acting quickly, he raced forward with speed that he didn't even know he had before his hand shot out to grab hers, yanking her back with a little more force than he originally intended.

"Ow! What the hell, Jaune?!" She snapped at him as she attempted to yank her arm free from his grasp.

But he wouldn't yield that easily. "What the hell Jaune? You should be asking yourself what the hell BLAKE! Why are you running towards an explosion?!"

"Because peoples lives are in danger! The White Fang is attacking!"

"Yeah, I know! I heard the people screaming their name!"

She yanked hard again. "So then LET GO!"

"Why are you trying to fight TERRORISTS?!" He screamed as he tightened his grip, his teeth gritting hard as she fought against her motions.

"Why? Are you SERIOUS, Jaune?!" She would have never expected him to have this much strength... "It's our JOB!"

"OUR job?! Blake, we're not even huntsman yet! We've been in school for a week and a half! We aren't trained for this yet!"

She knew he could be a bit cowardly, but not THIS cowardly. How could he stand by when innocents were about to be killed? "We killed Grimm the size of buildings in the Emerald Forest!"

"Those were mindless animals that fought with teeth and claws! We're dealing with actual PEOPLE here! People with guns and dust! Let the local authorities handle it!"

"The local authorities won't get there in time!"

"BLAKE! Are you even LISTENING to yourself?! You want to go running off to fight TERRORISTS!"

She had enough of this.

With one final tug, she was free of his grip. Jaune nearly fell flat on his back as Blake took off running again. He could have sworn that Blake's hand felt as if it had phased through his, and for a brief moment her entire body seemed like it blurred out of existence for a moment. But that wasn't as important compared to the fact that his black haired teammate was now running towards an explosion that would most likely turn into a fire fight when the police arrived on the scene. "Blake! BLAKE!" She ignored his shouts and continued to run, with him giving chase.

* * *

Jaune slowed to a stop when he realized that the two of them had quickly made their way to the site, a small group of police already hunkering down on the outskirts of the shipyard. While at first he was relieved to see that they had arrived so quickly, his relief was soon replaced by anxiety as he saw the ensuing fire fight.

The police were largely outmatched, their simple pistols clearly not being able to compete with the automatic weapons that many of the White Fang extremists were toting.

"Get down!"

As he turned to see where the voice had come from, he found himself tackled by a person who subsequently knocked him behind some kind of metal judging by the sounds of bullets ricocheting off of it. As his vision slowly readjusted itself, he found himself staring into the face of who he assumed was a police officer, as she was wearing a blue uniform along with blue jeans.

The woman shot him a nasty glare as she brushed her hair out of her face, or at least what he could assume was a glare. The sunglasses she had on made it hard for him to tell. "Kid, are you some kind of idiot? Why was your first instinct to run TOWARDS a fire fight between cops and criminals?!"

"I- I uh, I was chasing my friend so I could stop her from doing just that!" He gulped as the woman's face contorted into a scowl. "L-look, I'm sorry, Miss-"

"Officer." She sighed as she placed a hand on her forehead and took a deep breath. "And why was your friend stupid enough to do something like that?"

"I don't know! She just grabbed her weapon and-"

"Weapon? She has a weapon?" Her eyes widened, though it was difficult to see with her glasses on. "Are you two huntsmen?"

Oh no. Oh no no, he was not getting dragged into this. "I-I mean kinda? Oh gods why did he say that?! "I mean we're-"

"Perfect!" Why did this have to happen to him? "We damn well needed this kind of luck. Where's your weapon?"

"It's uh, not here. I have to call it with my scroll. But we're not-"

"Alright, you go ahead and call your weapon, and we'll give you some covering fire so you can get in there and start cracking skulls!" The woman suddenly grabbed him by the collar and pushed him behind her, giving him the space that she assumed he would need.

Without even thinking, Jaune whipped out his scroll and pulled up the remote locker application. Quickly punching in his locker number before hitting the send button. "Alright, I hit sen- ACK!" He felt a hand grasp the back of his collar as it yanked him backwards, practically throwing him into the metal object from before. A few bursts of gunfire rang out from beside him before the officer from before crouched down next to him.

"That's great, kid. But keep your head down. This is basically a warzone now." As if to prove her comment true, a few bullets ricocheted off of their cover. "Great, I just got this thing painted, too."

Painted? Were they hiding behind a car? "Uh, if we're using car for cover, doesn't that risk it blowing up on us?"

The officer laughed. "You watch too many action movies, kid. Cars don't just blow up when they get shot at a bit." Glancing over at the blonde, she noted that he looked particularly youthful. Huntsmen really were getting younger and younger these days, weren't they? This one looked even younger than her little sister, and she was in her second-

An explosion rang out from behind them, the force of the impact pelting them with small pieces of concrete. The two of them stared blankly at the explosion site as the smoke cleared, revealing a large, rectangular looking box that was stuck into the ground as if it had been carelessly tossed there.

"That's it!" Jaune shouted as he hopped to his feet and ran to his locker. He quickly yanked open the door and gazed upon Crocea Mors. But curiously, he couldn't find the strength to reach out and claim his armaments. He had no idea what he was about to get himself into. He was about to fight TERRORISTS with a sword and shield, all to keep a girl he barely even knew safe after she haphazardly ran off to get herself killed. There was still time for him to simply bail, after all it wasn't his fault if she...

"The Alpha watches over his pack. He ensures their survival."

He blinked a few times. The thought was very familiar to him. Yet it wasn't a terminology that he had ever used before. Had he not been in the current situation he found himself in, he may have stopped to consider that thought might have been a bit strange to think... but at the same time, the thought was correct. An alpha does watch over his pack, and as far as everyone was concerned, he was technically the Alpha of team JLYB. And Blake was a part of that team.

With a grunt, he pulled his weapons from the locker, pulling his sword from the scabbard in one clean motion while also popping it into its shield form. He knew he was about to regret doing this, but there wasn't a chance in hell that he was going to leave Blake all alone inside that warzone. "I'm ready now. Think you can gimme that covering fire you talked about?"

With a grin, the officer tapped the inside of her ear. A small headset unfolded from inside, a little mouthpiece extending in front of her face. "Alright men, we've got ourselves a huntsman on the field. Medium length blonde hair, kinda scraggly lookin' with a sword and shield. Provide covering fire for him whenever possible, over." With another tap of her finger, the headset folded back into her ear as a small black hearing aide looking device. The officer gave him a thumbs up, her smile unwavering. "Oh, and before you go in there and get shot at, take this with you."

She pulled a small black object out of her pocket and tossed it at him. In a panic, he attempted to catch it with the hand that his shield currently occupied, causing it to bounce off of it with a clang. He couldn't help but notice the look of disapproval he received from the officer as he scrambled to pick the object off of the ground. Eyeing it curiously, he held it up a bit closer to his face so he could get a better look at it. "Uh, thanks? But what is it?"

"It's a headset like mine. Just stick it in your ear and tap it when you want to talk." She demonstrated by tapping the headset she had again, causing it to fold out once more. "Use that to call for help or give some orders. If any of them give you any lip, tell them they'll have to answer to Officer Adel, got it?"

He nodded before flashing a smile. It wasn't a huge amount of support, but he would take anything he could get. "Thanks, Miss Adel."

"Officer. I didn't join the police force just to be called "Miss," kid." She turned back to the chaotic battlefield and nudged her head towards it. "Well, have fun out there, and try not to get shot."

Jaune took a deep breath and slowly stepped towards his possible death, his shield raised and his grip on his sword tightening at the sound of gunfire ringing out from in front of him. With a deep breath, the blonde knight crouched his down ever so slightly and huddled behind his shield to the best of his ability before finally charging forward into the smoke covered shipyard.

As he burst through a cloud of smoke, the ringing of bullets colliding with metal filled his ears. He could already feel the bullets peppering his shield without even a moment of hesitation, the terrorist opening fire on him as soon as he entered their line of sight. He quickly sidestepped behind a wooden crate and hunkered down, allowing the gunfire to die down for a moment before bursting out from behind his cover. The gunfire started again, the force of the bullets threatening to push him back as he continued running.

Once Jaune heard the yell of a voice, he knew that he was close enough to force his enemies to engage him in melee combat. Without even lifting his head up, he swung his sword forward and felt it collide with a body. The attack was strong enough to knock the person off their feet, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to dissuade his enemies friends from jumping him all at once. He felt pain as the butt of a rifle was slammed into his side, and as if to match, another rifle collided with his head and forced him to stumbled backwards. His vision blurred for a second before he managed to shake it off and charge forward again, swinging his shield towards another one of the criminals lower body.

Jaune felt a small surge of confidence as his shield met the terrorists left leg with a sickening crack, the leg bending in a way that was certainly not natural. The grunt let out a scream as he fell to the floor, nursing his wounded appendage as he lay in a fetal position.

It was at this point that the young blonde huntsmen-in-training came to a shocking realization. He had just charged into a fire fight between the police and terrorists, rushing headfirst into a group of said terrorists who were shooting bullets directly at him, his shield being the only thing protecting him. And he had just taken one of them out. He felt his breathing hitch for a moment as he spun around and slammed his elbow into the skull of another White Fang extremist that had attempted to attack him from behind. As the rest of the soldiers stared down at their fallen comrades, they gazed back at the scraggly blonde teenager that had just taken them out and briefly recoiled in fear as he charged towards them, all the while screaming his glorious battle cry.

"WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?!"

* * *

Blake turned a corner and made a mad dash forward, her blades catching two grunts as they appeared from their cover to fire off at more of the law enforcement that was hunkered down nearby. Thankfully for her, the White Fang made sure to unlock the aura of their recruits, meaning that her sword merely incapacitated them rather than kill. Once she had confirmed that the two grunts had been knocked out, she quickly continued to rush through the enemy lines as stealthily as possible. Her back hit a shipping container as she hugged herself against it, hearing the approaching footfalls of another pack of grunts.

She steadied her breathing for a moment before tightening her grip on her blade. Just as the Grunts masks inched into view, she surged forward and sliced at their legs. She caught two of them, sending them to the ground with a thud. With terrifying efficiency, she based the downed grunts upside the head with the dull end of her sheathe, ensuring that they wouldn't be getting back up any time soon. The two remaining grunts panicked as one would imagine, rapidly firing off a spray of bullets in her general direction, only to watch as the black haired girl blurred out of existence as if she had never been there to begin with. With another well placed slash on the last two grunts backs, they too fell to the floor.

She was doing her best to take some stress off of the police, but even she had her limits. And the longer she stayed on the White Fang's side of the shipyard, the more risk she put on herself. But what choice did she have? It was either continue to fight, or run away and let the police clean up this mess. And she wasn't about to push that responsibility on people like them, they wouldn't stand a chance.

"There she is! OPEN FIRE!"

She didn't even turn her head to see who had found her, the numerous footsteps clued her in well enough. In another flash, she quickly dove behind the shipping container that she had used for her earlier ambush and rolled to her feet. There would be no hope in fighting a group of grunts head on, they had automatic guns and she did not. Her trigger finger wasn't itchy enough to pump out that much ammunition. Thinking quickly, she took off in the opposite direction of the approaching men and headed towards the nearby warehouses that lined the shipyard. The distance wasn't that close, but with the occasional twist and turn she had made sure to keep out of any guns line of sight long enough for her to duck into an alley between two of the buildings.

Glancing up at the roof, she folded Gambol Shroud into its grapple form and tossed it upwards. The weapons blade just barely embedded itself into the lip of the rooftop, giving her enough leverage to quickly scale the wall by pulling herself up with her ribbon. She crouched down and observed the now confused men as they all flooded the alley, their guns tracking any signs of possible movement.

When they found none, they quickly shifted their priorities back to the gunfight on the other side of the shipyard and began filtering back out of the alley. With a sigh, she stood back up and gathered her thoughts. Now they would be on high alert for the enemy present in their backlines, which would make it that much harder to approach from anywhere on the ground level. For now, she would need to change up her tactic and simply observe from the rooftops, at least until the panic stopped long enough for her to make another move.

Blake continued her sweep of the docks from the roof, the smog in the air from the explosion hindering her vision even still. The ringing sounds of bullets being fired back and forth echoed from the cloud, telling her that the authorities had been rather quick to respond to this attack. With the next building closing in, she readied herself to hop across the gap between the two. But her movements stopped when she picked up on a particularly interesting conversation in the alleyway below.

"Which one of you idiots set off that dust charge? I swear NOBODY is competent these days!"

Halting her momentum completely, Blake found herself dropping to her knees as she leaned towards the edge of the building, her head tilting down towards the open gap in front of her. With her eyesight, it was easy to pick out the orange haired man in the black bowler hat who was berating a group of White Fang grunts.

"This was supposed to be a simple gig, we go in, steal the dust, get out. And here I find that you gaggle of idiots just set off one of the most important pieces of our cargo!" The man stopped his pacing for a moment and placed a hand on his forehead as he bent over slightly. He was certainly familiar to her, she was just having the trouble of figuring out where she had seen him before. "Where is Bonesaw anyway? He's in charge of you lowlifes."

Blake slapped her hands over her mouth in an attempt to hold in a gasp. Bonesaw? While she didn't know anyone by that name in particular, there was certainly someone within the ranks of the White Fang that she dreaded. Was he here? Or were their codenames just similar?

"I'm here, Roman. And it's Banesaw." Her eyes widened as she watched the new figure stalk into the scene from behind the man named Roman, and both names set her off edge at their mention. Roman Torchwick, a particularly powerful crime lord in the Vale Underworld, and Banesaw, a high ranking lieutenant in the White Fang. And most notably, personal assistant to the head of the Vale Forces Division... Adam Taurus. She never personally spoke to Banesaw much, but seeing him here and knowing his dedication to Adam... it sent shivers up her spine.

"Oh good, here he is. Now maybe he explain to me what the HELL is going on!" Roman turned back to the grunts behind him and held his hand out as if he were a gameshow host presenting a prize. "What do you guys think? Can he?"

"I'll explain plenty, human." Roman turned back to Banesaw with a less-than-impressed look on his face, only to freeze when his neck brushed up against the chainsaw blade tipped sword that was currently being held against his neck. "So long as I have your undivided attention."

If Roman was dissuaded by the action in any capacity, he didn't show it. Instead, a sly smile crept onto the gingers face. "Aheh, what exactly do you think you're doing? Last I checked, you work for me."

"Faunus working for a human? Get real. We never had any intention of keeping our loyalties to you."

"Mmhm. Okay. So let me get this straight, you're suddenly feeling stupid enough to try and betray THE Roman Torchwick and the insane, extremely deadly woman that he is currently working for. Oh, and let's not forget that you and your ragtag bunch are also going against your White Fang orders to follow OUR orders. So I guess you can chalk up betraying them, too." The blade inched closer to his neck, yet it didn't deter him. "Very smooth."

"Cinder Fall and her cretins won't be a problem. In fact, they're being taken care of as we speak." A laugh escaped from underneath the mans mask. "And who do you think ordered this little coupe? None other than the top dog herself."

"Heh. Isn't she more of a mangy cat?"

Blake had to fight to hold back an audible gasp. Roman had just signed a death warrant without a doubt, speaking so ill of the White Fang's leader right in front of a high ranking officers face like that. She watched as Banesaws free hand lashed out and socked Roman across the face, sending the crime lord onto a knee from the force. Despite the blow looking like it hurt in so many ways, the ginger merely let out a laugh and cracked an even bigger smile. His cane clacked against the ground as he used it to straighten himself out.

"Well. I can see I hit a sour spot."

"You know, most people would be begging for their lives when they realize they're about to be killed." He continued to step forward, letting his chainsword drag on the ground for added measure. Sparks burst to life and scattered in different directions before subsequently snuffing out. "Or are you humans just too stupid to think of doing such a thing? Not that you'll get any mercy."

"Yeeah. See, here's the thing..." Roman stood to his full height and straightened his hat. "Roman Torchwick doesn't beg." His hands reached down to the cuffs of his suit, properly tightening them for a moment before his gaze quickly locked onto the man in front of him. "And he doesn't plan on dying tonight, either." With a quick twirl of his cane, the very end of it opened up to reveal the barrel of a gun. The cane clacked again as it was shoved against the ground in front of him, angled just slightly towards the White Fang Lieutenant in front of him.

The barrel lit up briefly before a small explosion burst from the barrel, throwing up a cloud of dirt and concrete chunks towards the Lieutenant. Roman quickly entered the smog, ignoring the confused group of grunts that all had their guns pointed towards the cloud. They wouldn't risk the possibility of hitting their lieutenant, and he knew that.

Using the fog to his advantage was something that Blake had to give him credit for. As she listened to the sounds of a brief scuffle between the lieutenant and the crime lord, she couldn't help but wonder who would prove more resourceful in this scenario. If she was placing a bet, she would probably have to go with Torchwick. He was most likely used to fighting in scenarios like this, while the lieutenant she knew from before always proved to be thick headed whenever Adam gave him the simplest of orders.

And if she had taken a bet out, she would find herself rolling in lien as the dust settled. Roman was now behind the lieutenant, his cane squeezing against the mans neck with enough force to cause him to gasp for air. All the White Fang grunts trained their weapons onto the ginger, who responded by strangling the lieutenant with even more force. "Ah ah ah, you wouldn't want me to go and break something in your lieutenants neck now, would you?" The grunts glanced amongst themselves for a moment before lowering their weapons, an action that made Roman quite happy as he began to slowly back towards the other open end of the alley, dragging his hostage along with him. "Now see, if only you all had been this smart before, maybe you would have been able to outsmart me!"

Roman continued to drag the lieutenant with him until the two of them were standing at the mouth of the exit. Roman glanced to his sides briefly, checking to make sure that the coast was clear. It was, not a single White Fang goon down either side of the street. He flashed a rather smug grin as he turned his head back to the man he was strangling, lowering his mouth next to the lieutenants ear. "Any last words before I snap your neck and get away clean?"

The lieutenant gagged for a moment, before Roman alleviated enough pressure to allow his hostage a chance to speak. "I was wrong about you, Torchwick. For a human, you're quite resourceful as well as quick on your feet." Roman's smirk only grew larger at the praise he was being given. "...But you're still just as stupid as the rest of your species." The lieutenant raised a hand up, his thumb and pinky folding into his palm as he flashed the number three to Roman's right.

A shot rang out, and Roman's hat was blown off of his head. Blake felt her heart nearly leap out of her chest as she observed the two men stand in silence for a moment, neither one of them moving an inch. Until...

Roman's body collapsed to the ground, a pool of crimson quickly growing around the crime lords body.

Banesaw slowly got to his feet and let out a hearty laugh. The rest of the grunts joined in, though they sounded more awkward than anything. Banesaw lifted his hand to his ear and began to speak. "Well done, Hawkeye. I'm glad to see you still have your aim."

Blake tore herself away from the scene, and with a speed that she didn't even know she was capable of reaching, spun on her heels and took off running in the opposite direction, hopping from roof to roof once more. She was quickly trying to deny the sight that she had just witnessed, feeling her stomach heave as if she were going to wretch. He may have been a crime lord, but watching a man get his brains splattered across the pavement by a sniper shot was something that she-

They had a sniper. She couldn't risk being on the rooftops like this! How had she even been allowed to walk on them for that long without having a bullet lodged firmly in her skull like Torchwick?! Blake quickly dove down into the next alley, facing away from the wall so that she could slide down it after the impact. It would have been painful, had her aura not been shielding her skin. She then turned and bolted out into the fire fight that was still raging on in the rest of the district. Had she not been panicked, she may have thought further ahead. But right now, her main concern was finding safety.

Back in the alley, Banesaw continued to talk into his headset while the rest of his men rejoined the fray. "Have the others reported in on their progress?"

A rather delicate sounding feminine voice crackled through the earpiece in response. "Yes, it seems as though the other targets have been neutralized. The White Fang is now free to begin all it's operations in Vale unopposed."

"Excellent." He smiled. "I'll radio General Taurus and inform him of that we have completed our operation without a hitch."

"About him, sir-"

"Is he alright? Was he injured?" He interrupted, but paused when the woman on the other end cleared her throat.

"Calm down sir. General Taurus and Agent Muninn were successful in eliminating the targets without as much trouble as they expected. Muninn departed shortly afterwards using her usual... methods."

Why even bring it up then? Of course the operation would go without any problems. "Then what about the general?"

"During my recon, I noticed a figure scaling the rooftops of the nearby buildings. I nearly eliminated her on the spot, however I stopped when I noticed who she was."

"And she is?"

"I believe she is the one General Taurus has been looking for, sir."

Banesaw felt his breathing stop for a brief moment. "Her? Are you sure? What did she look like, and where did she go?"

"She matches the description perfectly. Black, long hair. Amber eyes. Outfit consisting of black and white, along with the possible black bow. And as soon as I assassinated Torchwick, she leapt off of the buildings and proceeded to head in the direction of the police barricade on the southern end of the shipyard."

That was her, without a doubt. And he wouldn't allow her to escape this time. "She is to be found and captured. I want you to make sure she doesn't reach that barricade by any means necessary, so long as she survives."

"Roger that."

Banesaw picked his chainsword off the ground, staring at his own reflection in the metal. She was a crafty one, and a single sniper certainly wouldn't be able to pin her down for long. They would need his help, and he would gladly accept the opportunity to hunt down the traitor that had caused their general so much turmoil.

Tonight, General Taurus would be reunited with his lost lover.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

It's been a while since I've done these, but I need to apologize for this chapter.

Not only is it rather sloppy for my taste, it's also very late.

I had quite a few problems with my job this past week, and it's put me in a particularly sour mood while also robbing all motivation I've had to work on anything. This chapter was actually meant to be a lot longer, but with how long it's been taking me to write I just decided to split it into two so I could at least have something to put out for you all to read.

I'll eventually come back and touch this chapter up a bit, but for now please enjoy it.

Thanks again.


	9. Chapter 8 - Blood in the Water

Jaune gasped for breath as he leaned against his cover. How he had managed to even get this far with only a few injuries was beyond his comprehension. At least, that's what he would like to assume. But for being a teenager with only basic training going up against waves of adult terrorists armed to the teeth, he found that they actually didn't pose much of a threat when they were within arms reach. What he was trying to say was, these people really sucked at actual fighting. At least, when compared to him. Maybe Tukson was right when he said that the new recruits weren't being trained properly...

"Hey kid, you still alive out there?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard the voice of Officer Adel ring in his ears. "Yes ma'am. Is something wrong?"

"Well I've got good news and bad news. Good news is, we got some additional firepower. Bad news is, we didn't get as much as we were hoping for."

"What? Why didn't we get more people?" Was there something more important going on? Could there even be anything more important than a large scale terrorist attack?!

"That's what I asked. Apparently, this ain't the only attack on Vale tonight. Lotta reports of more explosions and other White Fang attacks are flooding the local police. Seeing how ours is the bigger one though, we were lucky enough to at least get two SWAT teams out here."

At least they had some help. It could always be worse. "Alright, so does that mean I'm finally getting some help out here?"

"Yeah, about that..." That didn't sound good. "I've been told by my officers that it can be considered illegal to send a minor, despite the fact that they are armed and willing, into a firefight with terrorists." That... sounded about right to him. "So I'm gonna have to ask you to pull out and head for the barricade."

Leave? He would love to. But the only problem there was the fact that he couldn't leave without Blake. "I can't do that, Officer."

He could hear the disgruntled sigh come from the other end as he had expected. "Yeah I guess I worded that wrong. I made it sound like you had a choice. Get back here, now."

"I can't leave without my friend Blake."

There was another annoyed sigh. He could certainly understand why she was upset though. "Alright, alright. Fine." Officer Adel's voice crackled back over the radio. "How about this, you've got five minutes to get out before I have my men drag you out. Sound good?"

That did not actually sound all that much better. Because if he didn't find Blake in those five minutes, he would find himself having to resist both the White Fang and the police while also trying to find his lost teammate. He opened his mouth to respond, which is when a hail of gunfire poured onto his position once again. With a yelp, he crouched back down behind his cover until the gunfire stopped. He took a deep breath before steeling himself for yet another charge. This night had made him seriously consider getting a gun built into his sword, because going strictly melee was not cutting it, so to speak. "Ugh. Yang would be proud of that one." He groaned to himself before hunkering down behind his shield.

 _Alright Jaune, on three..._ He slowly began counting down in his head, but the moment he reached one he heard a peculiar sound. The men that had pinned him down screamed and fired off their guns before the sounds of metal clashing against metal were heard, shortly before the thuds of bodies hitting the ground followed. Jaune sat, unmoving in the silence for a moment before he slowly peaked around the corner of the shipping container that he was hiding behind. His eyes settled upon the form of his lost teammate, Blake, wiping the sweat from her brow as she stared down at the terrorists near her feet.

"BLAKE!" He shouted as he ran out from behind the barrel, catching her off guard. With a yelp, she quickly pulled back and shifted her sword into a gun, firing off a bullet that was directed at him. Jaune matched her shout as he deflected the bullet with his shield, stopping dead in his tracks. He held his eyes shut for a second before opening them again, only to see a rather angry looking girl staring at him, her face red with either fatigue or anger.

"Jaune, what the hell!? I could have killed you just now!" She shouted as her gun flipped back into its sword form. "...And what are you even doing here? I thought you said this was too dangerous."

"It IS too dangerous! For both of us! That's why I had to come in, to save you!" Jaune stated, his face growing equally red with his own anger. He practically stomped towards her, his footfalls doing nothing to intimidate her as she just stared blankly at him. With a bit of adjusting, he scooted his shield onto his arm and took his sword up with the same hand. Using his now free hand, he grabbed hold of Blake's arm in order to stop the rogue teen from running off, despite the fact that he knew it would do him no good.

"Well... thank you." She stated bluntly, not even flinching under his grip. "Is there a safe zone where the police have set up? If so, we should head there."

"Oh no, you're coming with me and that's- wait what did you just say?" He blinked a few times before letting go of her arm. Blake nodded silently as if to reaffirm what she had said. "I uh... didn't expect you to agree to come with me that easily."

"Let's just say something happened that made me change my mind." She shivered as images of Torchwicks assassination played back in her head. "Besides, I can't let you get yourself killed in an attempt to save me." And there was also the growing concern of Banesaw and his sniper. The longer they stayed, the more of a risk they ran of being confronted by either of them. And those were both battles that they wouldn't be able to win. On a good day, she could take on the lieutenant with minor difficulty. But this was certainly not a good day, and with the aforementioned sniper covering him, it could be considered a terrible one.

"Oh... Uh, alright." Jaune placed a hand on his ear, pulling the mouthpiece closer to his face. "Uh, Officer Adel? I found my friend."

"Good work kid, did it with four minutes to spare." Laughter crackled through the headset. "Say, if being a huntsman doesn't work out for you, I bet I could get you a good position here on the force. Provided you get your asses to the barricade on the eastern end of the docks."

Jaune felt a shiver go up his spine at the womans rather serious tone. "Uh, right away, ma'am." He quickly tapped the radio so that it would fold back into his ear. "Okay, we need to head east. The barricade is that way." Blake nodded and almost immediately took off running in the stated direction, catching him off guard. With a short yelp, he took off after her. Returning his sword to it's proper hand, and the shield back to it's place as well, he readied himself for more danger as the two of them continued running along.

Blake's eyes were constantly darting in every direction, watching for possible signs of any kind of danger. She was momentarily unnerved when Jaune charged ahead of her, making sure that he was always positioned in front of her. It was something she was confused by at first, but the shining of his shield reminded her that he was essentially a mobile wall that she could hide behind if the need arose.

The pair found themselves traveling through the shipyard at a higher speed then they imagined. Most of the White Fang had either been pushed back, or simply relocated to areas where they were not. For once, they seemed to be running into some good luck. With a few more turns, the barricade came into view, a smaller group of White Fang firing on their position. They needed to only pass through a small hall of shipping containers and they would be home free. Without hesitation the two of them began running. Jaune pulled out his headset again, ensuring that there would be no friendly fire. "Officer Adel? We're closing in on the barricade, we'll be emerging from the shipping containers that are straight ahead of it."

Jaune never even heard the response clearly, instead the sounds of metal being torn to shreds backed by the melody of a chainsaw revving filled the air in front of them. A blade stuck out of the blue shipping container on the right, a hole being slowly sliced into the surface. Blake recoiled in horror as she watched the small explosion of smoke and metal burst from the container. The two of them stopped dead in their tracks, their eyes trying to pierce the fog that had settled in the hall. "I finally found you." A raspy voice rang out as a mass of shadows emerged from the smoke. "And now you won't escape."

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" Officer Adel hissed as she examined the smoke beginning to clear from inbetween the containers in the center of the yard. Even the White Fang grunts that were near it began clearing out, most likely fearing that it was explosive retaliation from the police. She fumbled to pull a pair of foldable binoculars out from her pocket for a brief moment before holding them up to her face. She cursed lightly to herself as she zoomed out with the small dial in the middle, they weren't far enough for maximum zoom that was for sure. As her vision cleared up, the hulking mass of a rather gigantic White Fang soldier loomed over the young blonde and a young black haired girl, whom she assumed was the blondes friend. Another hiss rang out from her mouth as she bit her bottom lip.

Jaune felt Blake grab onto his arm, pulling him away from the giant of a man that stood before them. "Blake, what are you doing?! We can't go back the way we came now! We're almost home free!"

"No! We can't fight him!" She continued to pull him backwards, grunting in annoyance when he refused to budge. "He'll kill both of us with ease!"

"What? We've been fighting grunts all night, there's no way this guy can be that good."

"Jaune!" She twisted his arm lightly, pulling him back once again. "Listen to me! I know what he's like! He's the lieutenant, he's way out of our league right now!" They were both tired, and she knew that there would be no hope for either of them winning like this. Especially not Jaune. He would be cut down with ease, and it would all be her fault. "We need to find another way!"

The Lieutenants chainsword sang out into the night air once again, sending the hairs on both Jaune and Blake's backs into a frenzy. "Taurus is expecting you, Belladonna. After all, we've searched high and low for you." The lieutenant's body tightened for a brief moment. "And I won't let you escape again!" And then all at once the man charged forward, his sword held up high.

Jaune had little time to react, the giant moved faster than he was expecting. He just barely brought his shield up in time to block the downward swing of the lieutenants sword, the sounds of metal being violently shredded reverberating in his ears like a maddened scream. He cried out in pain as he was forced onto his knee, the cement meeting his bones full force.

The weight of the chainsword continued to press down on him, forcing him lower to the ground with every passing second. Jaune knew that one of three things would have to happen, either his shield would give out from the chain blades and snap in two, his body would give out and he would be forced into the ground, or he would have to break off from blocking and hope he could dodge the sword without getting sliced up. And all three options looked as if they would have outcomes that would result in his demise.

Blake however, offered a fourth option. Whipping out Gambol Shroud, she quickly jumped over Jaune and slashed downwards at the lieutenant's face. One of the man's hands let go of his chainsword, bringing his entire arm up in front of his head to guard the attack. Blake's sword bit into his armguard, the steel of both objects screeching as they collided. With the brief lapse in pressure, Jaune quickly forced himself and the chainsword upwards long enough for him to roll to his right, the blade sinking into the concrete as soon as he stopped guarding against it.

Bits of rock exploded from the impact area, the chainsword flinging the rubble in every direction as it continued to rip through the ground. With a single strong heft, lieutenant the lieutenant simultaneously freed the weapon and swung it at Blake, forcing her to duck as it whirred over her head. Again the sounds of metal screeching rang out as the chainsword found itself ripping through the shipping container, a fine line being cut through it as if it were butter.

Blake hopped back towards Jaune, her free hand grabbing onto his sword arm. With a hefty tug, she helped him to his feet. "While he's distracted, let's turn around and find another path!" She grit her teeth when the blonde stared back at her and shook his head. "Blake, there isn't going to be another way! It's through him or we don't make it out at all!" Before she could even offer a rebuttal, the blonde knight charged back into the fray in an attempt to take advantage of his opponents disorientation. "Damnit, Jaune!" She practically barked as she chased after him.

Jaune attacked with a flurry of horizontal slashes, all of which bounced off of the lieutenants chainsword as if he were attacking with a mere stick. The larger man barely even had to move his arms to block him, the sheer size of his weapon covered most of Jaune's reach if it was held at the proper angles. The only thing that forced the man to change up his defensive pattern was the added support of Blake and her sword, the pair displaying a rather deadly dance as they weaved in between each others blows.

After a dual attack by the two, the lieutenant quickly lashed out and swung his sword upwards at Blake. In one swift movement, the teen dodged the attack and leapt towards Jaune. The blonde quickly bent over so she could soar over him without worrying about hitting his head, the action giving Blake another opportunity to attack as soon as she landed on his other side. With another swing, Blake watched as Gambol Shroud made it's way towards the lieutenant's head once more. The lieutenant let out a grunt as he was forced to once again free a hand from his sword to block the attack. Steel met with flesh once again, only this time...

Blake let out a gasp as she watched her sword tear into the lieutenants bare hand. His aura had blocked most of the attack, but blood still flowed freely from his hand. The giant man's fingers closed around the blade and swung it downward, ripping it from the safety of it's original owner. In one clean motion, the blade dropped from the lieutenant's grasp as his arm glided back to his chainsword, gripping its handle firmly once it connected. The sword flew back towards Blake, who was now completely defenseless. Thinking quickly, Jaune tossed his sword towards his teammate, who caught it just before ducking under the lieutenants attack once again. She wasn't used to this kind of blade, but her experience with swords would be more than enough for her to work with just long enough so she could get her own blade back.

The two of them charged in once more, Jaune leading with a shield bash directed towards the lieutenants gut. While the blow collided, the man was an immovable wall that simply took the blow head on. Raising his sword of his head, the lieutenant slammed the butt of his swords handle into the shield, forcing it from the blondes hands. It clattered to the ground, leaving him vulnerable. The lieutenant was unable to follow up on this however, as Blake once again came at him with Crocea Mors. Her moves were slow and clumsy due to inexperience with the blade however, and she could not force her way passed the giant of a man in order to retrieve her own blade. With a shout, the lieutenant blocked another slash and pushed his weapon forward, knocking the black haired teen's balance off, forcing her to the ground.

* * *

Officer Adel continued to watch the spectacle through her binoculars. The kids were good, but they were fighting a losing battle. And there was no way the police or the swat team would be able to get to them in time with the firefight still going on, not unless there was a way for them to distract all the enemy forces at once. "Officer Adel, the SWAT team has arrived!" She turned her attention away from the battle at hand to see that a small armored truck had pulled up to their barricade, the occupants already barreling out of the back. The other officer continued to talk, but his words went unheard as she stared into the SWAT truck, her eyes settling upon a particularly beautiful sight. A few bundles of flash grenades, and a launcher to go along with them.

"Perfect." She muttered to herself as she hopped into the truck and picked the weapon up. "Excuse me Officer, but you can't just-" The man quickly shut his mouth when she turned and glared at him. "Listen, I know you SWAT guys think you're hot shit," she began, "But I've got a sister who's training to be a huntress. I think I know my way around heavy weapons a hell of a lot more then you do, just from my experiences alone." None of the other men objected to her taking the launcher along with a few flashbangs, something that lightened her mood just a little. With a grunt, she hoisted the launcher onto her car and quickly pointed it towards her target. Smirking to herself, she quickly loaded in a grenade before tapping the communicator situated in her ear.

"Hey kid, how's it hanging?" Jaune heard the voice ring out in his ear as he dodged another swing from the lieutenant. He would have loved to respond, but he was currently fighting for his life and had no way of activating the communicator's microphone without risking his hand in the process. "I know you probably can't respond, but I've got some advice for you and your girlfriend. You might wanna cover your eyes." What exactly did she mean by that? Did she really need to be so cryptic at a time like- "Cos' I'm about to fire off a flashbang so you two can haul ass around your friend there and get over to us, capiche?" Well, that was certainly much better then stupid hints.

Jaune quickly pulled Blake away from the lieutenant, the sudden strange movement confusing the two combatants. Without speaking, he quickly covered his eyes with his hands, hoping that she would get the message. She did not, instead shooting him an odd glare before returning to combat. He groaned to himself and wished he could just tell her, but doing so within such close proximity to their enemy would without a doubt ruin the entire surprise. He followed Blake back into combat, using her as a distraction so he could quickly grab his shield off of the ground. With a yelp, he blocked another attack that came at him, the force of the swing nearly knocking him off of his feet once again. Now would be the perfect time for that flashbang to come and help them, especially when they were starting to lose badly!

Clang, clang.

Jaune's ears perked up when he heard what sounded like a can of soda bouncing off of the pavement. That noise was enough of a cue for him to grab Blake once again, the teen shouting in objecting as she was pulled backwards once more. Thinking quickly, Jaune crouched down and placed his head close to hers before using his shield to cover their faces entirely. The lieutenant watched the spectacle in temporary confusing before shrugging to himself and stepping forward. His movement was stopped when he felt the sensation of stepping on a tin can, causing him to look down at his feet.

A small, silver can that had no real discernible features lie under his feet, his weight crumpling it with ease. Without even thinking, he pressed his weight onto it further not realizing his mistake until it was too late. A loud explosion followed by a blinding flash of white engulfed the makeshift hallway, blinding everyone who had happened to be looking at it directly. Those nearby also found themselves deafened by the noise, the ringing in their ears being nearly unbearable as many White Fang grunts stumbled around the hallways opening.

Blake pushed herself off of Jaune, blinking rapidly as her vision readjusted. Even behind the safety of his shield, the light still managed to blind her for a short time. But now she could see clearly enough, and she knew that it was now or never. Grabbing Jaune's hand once again, the two began to make a break for it, passing by the lieutenant as he stumbled aimlessly around. Blake quickly scooped up Gambol Shroud and tossed Crocea Mors to Jaune, the blonde catching it before rushing in front once again. With his shield raised, the two found themselves within arms reach of salvation as they burst from the shipping container hallway and ran towards the police barricade.

It didn't take very long for the hulking mass known as Banesaw to recover from the sudden surprise flashbang, not only did his mask protect his eyesight, his eyes had also long since gotten used to the sensations. At one point he was worried that he would eventually need glasses or just go completely blind, but as of today neither of those were the case. Turning to his prey, he watched as the made a mad dash out into the exposed shipyard and towards the police barricade. If Belladonna reached it, there would be absolutely no hope in catching her. With a shout, the lieutenant charged forward like an angry boar in an attempt to catch up to the two of them. But with such size and strength came the drawback of lacking in speed, and at the rate he was going he knew there would be no way of gaining on them. His hand went to the earpiece situated inside of his right ear, the microphone quickly extended after being tapped once. "Hawkeye," Banesaw began, "You had better be in position. You need to stop the target now, at all costs."

* * *

They were so close now, only a few more moments and they would be safe. Even the bullets flying back and forth around them couldn't slow their momentum as they continued to inch closer and closer to what seemed like a finish line at this point. Jaune glanced back at Blake, his mind beginning to think of all the ways he and the rest of their team would chew her out for doing what was possibly the stupidest thing she could ever do in her life when they were back home safe and sound.

At least, that was what he was thinking before the sounds of a particularly powerful rifle rang out across the entire shipyard, follow by a scream of pain.

Jaune whipped his entire body around so fast that he nearly fell over.

Staring down at the ground, he saw his teammate letting loose another cry of anguish as she cradled her left leg, a leg that was now gushing blood at a terrifying rate.

He quickly rushed to her side and dropped to the ground with her, his shield guarding the two of them from the angle that he assumed the bullet had come from. He didn't know the exact reason as to why they didn't just take her out immediately if they had such a clear shot, but right now he knew that it would only be a few seconds at the most before another shot was attempted again.

And to make matters worse, the White Fang lieutenant from before came barreling out into the field, charging straight towards them. Jaune could only watch the man close in on them, unsure of what to do in this situation. Panic began to well up inside of him as Blake's screaming slowed to a stop, the girl running out of breath almost entirely. His body began to tense up, his arms and legs tingling as his stress began to overwhelm him. He could feel a transformation coming on, and as much as he didn't want to let it happen, it could be the only thing that stood between them and death. Things had gone from bad to as bad as they could possibly get, and at the worst possible moment, too.

He took a deep breath...

And nearly had a heart attack as the sounds of screeching tires filled the air. A police car spun around from his left, the back door swinging wildly as it was apparently left open. He continued to watch as the car shielded them from both any more gunfire and the White Fang lieutenant in awe. The window on the passenger side quickly rolled down, revealing the face of one very pissed off looking Officer Adel. "Don't just sit there like an dumbass, GET IN!" She shouted as she rolled down her own window, her arm reaching for the unholstered pistol that was in her lap. With a few loud pops, she fired off a few shots at the goliath-like man that was continuing his charge at the vehicle.

Without hesitation, Jaune picked Blake up with speed and strength that surprised him greatly. He practically dove into the back of the vehicle, ignoring the whimpers of pain the came from his teammate. As much as he disliked causing her pain, she would be in so much more if they didn't get to safety soon. "I'm in!" He shouted as he sat up and slammed the door shut. Almost as if it were a cue, Officer Adel slammed on the gas, the force of the car lurching forward causing him and Blake to nearly fly out of their seats. Jaune stared out the window, watching the car plow through the police barricade rather haphazardly. Luckily, nobody was injured and no major damage was sustained to their escape vehicle. A sigh of relief escaped from his mouth as the horrid battlefield began to rapidly vanish and be replaced by peaceful city streets.

His sightseeing was interrupted by the sensation of being pelted in the face with something solid, yet soft. He instinctively flinched, not even bothering to look at the object that had been thrown at him. Instead, he looked back down at Blake, the girl curled up in his lap while still clutching her leg. Her mouth opened and closed, no doubt in an attempt to either scream or cry, but no sounds managed to escape from her lips.

Jaune's gaze drifted down to her leg, and his hands followed close behind. He knew that he would need to examine the wound, and as much as he hated to cause her even more pain, it needed to be done. Carefully, he pried Blake's hands away from her leg and nearly gagged when he saw her wound. Her leg had a hole in it that covered most of the area just below the kneecap. It was astonishing to see that her leg hadn't been blown off given the severity of the wound. A glimmer of metal also shined through the ripped flesh and splintered bone, a particularly large bullet hiding within the gore.

"Kid, what in the hell are you doing? I threw you those bandages for a reason!" Officer Adel shouted from the drivers seat, shocking him back into action. He quickly scrambled to find the gauze that she had provided him and took it in his hands. It took the entire roll just to bandage Blake's leg properly, but he managed to slow the bleeding enough to give them time to find a hospital.

"That was some crazy shit you did out there, kid." Officer Adel said as she made a turn that nearly forced him out of his seat once more. "Both you and your girlfriend are pretty damn good fighters. I'd say she reminds me of my little sister, but that'd be a pretty big lie." Jaune sat in silence, not really knowing where she was going with this or how to respond. "After I get you two to the nearest hospital, I'm gonna head on back out into the field to make sure everything isn't falling apart. You'll be okay on your own for a bit, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Thank you, Officer." His voice cracked slightly as he forced himself to speak. He wasn't sure if it was the sight of his teammate in constant agony or this police officers insane driving that was making him sick to his stomach, but the one thing he WAS sure of was that it was taking most of his strength to stop himself from hurling on the spot.

It didn't take long for them to find a hospital with the way Officer Adel drove, and with her rather unique "charisma," it took them even less time to get Blake strapped to a bed and rushed into surgery. Jaune was able to finally take a well deserved rest in the waiting room as he plopped down in one of the chairs. It was a horribly uncomfortable chair, but in that moment it felt like absolute paradise to him.

"Hey kid, hate to ruin your moment but I gotta tell you something." His eyes slowly opened to see Officer Adel standing over him, her arms folded over her chest in a rather unamused manner.

"I want you and your girlfriend to stay in this hospital. Since you two were out in the field, you've probably got some idea as to what went on, right? Maybe you heard some orders or something, I dunno." He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the officers hand. "Save it for later, right now just focus on getting some rest, alright? I'll be back when the shitstorm out there settles down, capiche?"

Jaune nodded slowly, earning a grin from the officer as she turned and began to walk away. "Uh, wait!" He managed to force out of his mouth, causing her to stop in her tracks for a moment. "I just want to say, thank you. Without you, my friend and I would have died out there for sure." He said as he dragged his body higher in the chair. "I don't know how I could ever repay you."

"Pff. You don't have to repay me, kid. It's my job to save lives." Officer Adel waved off as she continued on her way. "But, it is nice to hear a thank you every once in awhile. So, you're welcome." She added before she left the waiting room.

Jaune let out a sigh as he slumped back into his chair once again. There were so many thoughts buzzing around in his head that he knew he would need to get answers to, so many memories that needed to be sorted and watched over again just to make sure he had heard and seen everything properly. And then there was the matter of dealing with Blake and how she charged into this mess in the first place. And those haunting words that the White Fang Lieutenant muttered about "finding" Blake. Did she have some sort of a connection with that guy? She certainly knew how dangerous he was. He continued to mull over these thoughts as he leaned back into the chair even further.

He would have continued processing everything that he had experienced that night, but before he even knew it his eyelids practically collapsed shut as unconsciousness embraced him.

* * *

 **Author's Notes  
**

Well, the holidays have come and gone. And now I have to get back to work on writing again. And this chapter still really doesn't explain a whole lot, but hey we've gotta wrap up the violence somehow.  
Then again, when Yang finds out what Blake did, there's probably going to be even more violence. I almost feel sorry for the poor girl.

And what about the White Fang? Why are they suddenly going on this massive rampage across Vale after ?  
What about Blake and her connection with them now that it's essentially out in the open?

So much to write, so little time.


	10. Chapter 9 - Bedside Manner

Blake's consciousness returned suddenly, along with the lovely sensation of a thousand knives being driven into her leg. She shot up with a hiss, only reaching the halfway point before her body gave out and dropped back into comfort of the mattress she was laying on. She could feel her eyes growing heavier almost as soon as she touched back down, and they may have shut completely had she not realized that she was indeed lying on a bed of some sort. Her body jerked upwards again in an attempt to get out of said bed, another gasp escaping her lips as her eyes frantically darted around the room.

White walls, a light blue curtain draped from a railing that was attached to the ceiling, a TV in the far corner of the room that was also attached to the ceiling. Her left hand brushed over her right, nudging a needle that was embedded into it. The needle was connected to clear tubing that connected to an IV bag being held up by an iron rack. Her mind relaxed ever so slightly when she put the pieces of the puzzle together.

She was in a hospital.

"Oh, good morning Ms. Belladonna!" She nearly leapt out of the bed once again when the voice of a man pierced the silence. Turning her head towards the door, a rather tall man in a fairly standard white coat and blue undershirt was walking into the room. His brown hair was short and smooth, shining with what was most likely styling gel as it appeared to be combed back. His hair was also connected to an equally brown beard that was trimmed, yet still rugged in its appearance. "You've been sleeping rather peacefully since you were brought in. How are you feeling?"

"Uhh..." She began before letting out a cough. Her throat felt as dry as the deserts of Menagerie, her voice drowning in its sandy texture. The doctor smiled as he walked further into the room, wandering over to the sink where he would procure a plastic cup. It wasn't long before she was presented with a source of water to cure her throat of its drought. "I suppose tap water isn't the healthiest thing in the world," He chuckled as she began gulping down the liquid as fast as her body would allow. "But it'll do for now."

She cleared her throat and let it properly moisturize before attempting to speak again. "I'm fine. Where exactly am I?" The doctor let out a laugh before flipping through his clipboard, something that annoyed her greatly. Did he really need to laugh in his patients face like that? Great bedside manner, pal.

"I didn't think you would have a case of amnesia, too." He joked as he flipped the papers back down. "Do you remember anything about last night?" Blake nodded. She remembered the docks, the assassination of Roman Torchwick, Banesaw confronting the two of them before being flashbanged, the sound of gunfire that rang out shortly before her leg exploded in a cloud of blood and agony. And she remembered thinking about how you weren't supposed to hear the one that gets you. What a crock that turned out to be.

"Well, your blonde boyfriend and Officer Adel brought you in late last night. A sniper round blew through your tibia. We had to perform some minor surgery to pick out all the bone shards and stitch up the wound, but the damage to your leg wasn't severe enough to require any prosthetic."

"S-surgery?" She parroted back as her hands went for her head. She felt them brush up against her ears, which were now free of the bow that constricted them and kept them hidden from the world. "My- my bow. Where is it?"

The doctor was confused. "Your bow? Strange is the patient that shows more concern for her fashion statement then her own leg. You know you're quite lucky that you'll recover from this and still be able to walk again, young lady."

"Where is my bow?! I need it!" She repeated, her voice raising. The doctor frowned before walking over to a small basket that was sitting on the counter, which upon closer inspection contained all of her clothes. It didn't take him long before he finally dug out her piece of fabric and handed it to her. She practically snatched it from his hands before quickly tying it back onto her head, her ears now concealed by the cloth. The doctor said nothing, but the frown that was still adorning his face spoke for him. She had little concern for his opinion though, her bigger problem was how long had she gone without her bow? "I don't want anybody to know about those."

The doctor let out a sigh before he jammed his free hand in his pocket. "Very well then, Ms. Belladonna." He stated before glancing down at his clipboard. "May I ask why though?"

She glanced towards the wall, not wanting to meet his gaze. "You wouldn't understand."

"Hm... I think you'll find that I might, Ms. Belladonna. I've treated many patients, both Faunus and Human. I've heard and seen a lot of things." He glanced up at her. She continued to stare at the wall, something that made him smile. "Not many of my patients can understand me though. Only a select few can share my own pain." Her head slowly turned towards him, those amber eyes showing themselves once more out of curiosity. "After all..." He began to trail off, turning his body just slightly so that she could get a better view. Blake let out a very quiet gasp as the doctors finished turning, revealing that he had... a tail. One that was a mix of a very light brown and a creamy, sandy beige, with hardened scales. "Very few know how hard it is to find pants that are fitted for tails."

"You're a-"

"A bearded dragon." He finished for her. He flipped through his clipboard before pausing. "Oh, and that's not why I have such fine facial hair, mind you. Lot of people like to make that joke."

Blake felt a small smile grace her lips as her body relaxed ever so slightly. But it was only temporary as a thought passed through her head. Staring at the doctors tail, she could only imagine how difficult it must have been for him to become a doctor. After all, a common racist remark was that Faunus were considered stupid. That was why they were all given an island to go live on, wasn't it? Humanity assumed they would be dumb enough to think it was an amazing gift and shuffle quietly onto it, never to be heard from again. And here she was assuming that she had it the worst. She could hide her faunus traits, while this man could not.

"-know I've never seen someone who showed no concern over such a grievous injury before."

Her attention snapped back to his face. "Uh, sorry." He was right, she was getting sidetract over such petty little things when she had a rather large caste on her leg. She stared at it for a few moments before speaking. "So what exactly happened to me?"

"That's exactly what I came in here to ask!" The doctor laughed, causing Blake's smile to curl back into a small frown. "Like I said, Officer Adel and some blonde kid dragged you in here and threw you onto an operating table before we could even react. So up until now, we could only just throw around a few guesses as to what happened to you." When he was met with silence, he decided to clear his throat and offer his own theory. "I assume you got caught in the crossfire of one of those White Fang terrorist attacks."

"One of?" So it was true, there had been more than one attack last night... Then did that mean that the locations she had gotten from her book were the targets?

The doctor frowned. "Yeah, there were a lot. Mostly bombs I heard, but there were two really big firefights that broke out between the police and the White Fang." He shook his head. "I remember when the White Fang was something to be respected, not feared. Back when they were good people. How did they fall so far?"

Blake felt a few needles work their way into her chest. "People change, I suppose." She mumbled to herself before turning away from the doctor once again. Despite her low rumblings, the man seemed to have heard her clearly enough. He nodded solemnly a few times before turning towards the door.

"Pah. Well, I've prattled on enough about the doom and gloom. I think it'd be best for me to leave you alone for awhile, don't you agree?" Despite the fact that he couldn't see, she nodded in agreement. He was a nice man, but nothing at all like she thought a doctor should be like. "I don't think you'll be going home today, but if you would like me to check I would be happy to do so."

"That would be nice, thank you."

The doctor waved as he approached the door. "No thanks necessary, Ms. Belladonna. It is my job after all. Now you take it easy, the nurse should be by soon to get you anything you might need." And with that, the doctor was gone, leaving her all alone.

The peace and quiet that came with being in a hospital room alone was something that she wished she could savor, but almost as soon as the doctor was out the door her thoughts began to wander again. She tried to think back to what had happened last night in more vivid detail, the last thing she remembered was the explosion of pain in her leg that caused her to collapse. She remembered screaming and clutching her leg, and she remembered Jaune appearing over her... "Jaune..." Her thoughts and emotions on the blonde who had saved her were mixed. On the one hand, he had ventured into a veritable warzone to save her. On the other hand, he only did so because he didn't want to try to help stop the attack in the first place. For someone that was training to become a huntsmen, he certainly was a coward.

But could he really be called a coward? Or was she just being unfair to him? He charged into the face of death after her, regardless of his prior convictions after all. And if it wasn't for him, she probably wouldn't have made it out of there alive. And if she had, she wouldn't have been returning to Beacon. She would have been brought before... him. She could feel her fingernails dig into the palms of her hands. Glancing down, she had curled them into fists purely on instinct. Fear and anger gripped her mind when she came to the realization that he, Adam, now knew where she was. She had run from him, from them, for a reason. And now they were going to come for her. Unless...

Blake's hand reached out and grappled the remote that was placed in a small holster found at the side of her bed. Without hesitation, she clicked the button that would power on the television, causing said electronic to flicker with life. Perhaps maybe there was still hope. Banesaw could have been arrested, and if he was that would ensure that her location would stay hidden from Adam.

"Amidst the chaos of the bombings, witness reports suggests that there were two separate heists taking place. Whether or not the terroristic attacks were simply a form of cover or not is still being investigated." Footage of a now smoking shipyard appeared on the screen. "Authorities noted that the first site was the target of the notorious criminal mastermind Roman Torchwick. Shortly after the attack began, reports came in of the kingpin fleeing the scene of the crime, suggesting that the White Fang were operating under their own authority. However, the bulk of the attack was routed thanks to the efforts of two young hunts-"

The sound of the TV dulled in her ears slowly, her thoughts once again speeding a mile a minute as she tried to comprehend what she had just heard. Roman Torchwick was seen fleeing from the shipyard? How was that possible? She was there, she had heard the gunfire, she had seen the criminal collapse onto the ground with a pool of blood flowing from his head! Nobody could survive a shot to the head like that! Were the reports mistaken? Were they falsified by his gang? Perhaps an attempt to cover up their bosses death so that a rival one didn't attempt to take them out?

"-reported a fight between three huntsman and the White Fang that erupted into the streets shortly afterwards. The fight continued to escalate until the arrival of a fourth huntsman, who allegedly allied themselves with the White Fang. According to the authorities, the fourth addition appeared to be a woman with long, black hair and a strange red and white mask adorned on her face. The battle lasted around fifteen minutes before the dust settled, the civilian deathtoll climbing to forty-five. There were no signs of the four huntsman, however."

Blake shook her head. How could three huntsman have such trouble against a single opponent? And why had their opponent been a huntsman who had sided with the White Fang? Huntsman were certainly not the type to side with terroristic organizations, Faunus or no. And there was still no hard evidence that Banesaw had been taken into custody. But she highly doubted she would get any from the news. She would have to look through the recently arrested reports later when she got back to Beacon if she wanted any real answers.

"Excuse me, Ms. Belladonna?"

Blake was snapped back into reality by the voice of a nurse. She quickly flicked the TV off and turned her full attention to the woman now at her door. "There is a visitor here for you. Do we have your permission to let him in?" She rolled her eyes. It was probably Jaune, ready to begin lecturing her now that he knew she was alright. Part of her was prepared for this. Without uttering a word, she nodded at the nurse and put on a fake smile. The nurse smiled back before shutting the door behind her, no doubt to go get her blonde leader.

She didn't have to wait long before the door opened once again, however it was not Jaune like she had expected.

It was Headmaster Ozpin.

* * *

She could feel her eyes widening in disbelief as she watched the Headmaster of Beacon stroll into her room. She had not expected the headmaster himself to come see her in the hospital, and she certainly had not expected him to look as bored as he did. His face seemed completely impassive, emotionless. Much like how she looked most of the time. He took a few more steps forward before stopping, his eyes wandering over to the large cast which was guarding her mangled leg. The smallest hint of a sigh escaped from the headmasters lips, before it was quieted by his mug. Even in a scenario such as this, he always kept that mug with him. You'd think it was some kind of ancient relic of upmost importance or something.

"Good morning, Ms. Belladonna." He began as he stepped closer to the bed, stopping an arms length before it. "From what the authorities have told me, it seems as though you had quite an exciting evening yesterday." She fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Fighting terrorists and helping the police. Certainly an interesting way to spend your free time." He paused for a moment before taking another sip from his mug. However, as he lowered the porcelain cup, his expression changed from neutral to one that was appropriately concerned. "May I ask why you, a student, charged headfirst into such a scenario?"

She bit her lower lip before casting her gaze to her lap. "There were people in danger. I couldn't just sit there and watch terrorists potentially kill them."

"I see. And you're sure that was the reason?"

"What?" She lifted her head and gave the headmaster her full attention. "Why else would I have done it?" She was training to be a huntress after all, it was her job to serve and protect those who needed her.

"I understand that it is your sworn duty to protect those in need, it is the reason that those who wish to become a huntsman do so." It was almost as if he had read her mind. "However, do you know that you fought against an organization known as the White Fang?" She nodded. "I see. And I assume that you know of the White Fang's rather infamous reputation of being a merciless and terrifying military power in certain parts of our world, yes?" Again, she nodded. Not an unexpected answer. "Most, if not all children your age, huntsman trainees or not, would not have done something that can be considered foolish by many." His eyes drilled through her very being as they locked into what seemed like a very serious stance. "So why did you do such a thing?"

Blake found herself at a loss for words for a moment. Her first answer was the truth, why would he expect anything different the second time? "I told you, sir. It's because people's lives were at risk."

The headmaster seemed disappointed by her answer. "I see." He straightened his posture before he began to slowly pace about the room. "Forgive me, Ms. Belladonna, for this might seem a tad random, but I have a few things to say, if you are well enough to listen."

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" She deadpanned as she rolled her eyes.

Headmaster Ozpin chuckled. "No, Ms. Belladonna, you are not." He stopped walking for a moment to clear his throat. "As you know, in order to enroll at my academy, students must first pass a rigorous entrance exam." Blake rolled her eyes again. she certainly knew that all too well. "Most applicants spend years of preparation training at one of the many combat schools around the world." She blinked. What exactly was the headmaster getting at? "You are one of the few that did not. And you passed the exam with flying colors."

What did that have to do with anything? Why did her not going to a combat school matter? "I was raised outside the kingdoms. Out there, if you can't fight, you can't survive."

The headmaster's mouth curled into a very small smile. "Well, you have most certainly survived, Ms. Belladonna. I admire your drive." He began to pace around the room once more, slowly making his way back towards the side of her bed as he continued to speak. And I am proud to run a school that accepts individuals from all walks of life. Rich, poor, Human..." He took a sip from his mug once again before stopping at the side of her bed, his eyes locking onto hers as he lowered the mug from his face. "Faunus..."

She felt her heart lurch forward, and her face contorted into a scowl. Why was he bringing up such a thing now? Yet even as she glared at him, he showed no signs of being intimidated. Instead, his face turned to one of concern again. "Why do you wear that bow, Blake? Why hide who you are?"

Hearing her first name uttered by the headmaster took her aback for a moment, but it did not distract her for long. Another person coming to criticize her once again on her bow, and this time it was one that couldn't possibly have a clue on the real reasons why. But she could at least try to explain that. "You may be willing to accept the Faunus, Headmaster Ozpin, but your species is not."

"That is true, but we are continuing to take strides in an attempt to lessen the divide."

Strides. Is that what they called it? They were more like steps taken by a toddler. "With all due respect, you need to start taking some larger strides." She didn't even attempt to conceal the venom in her voice. "Until then, I'd rather avoid any unnecessary attention. I want people to see me for who I am, not what I am."

The headmaster said nothing for a brief moment before leaning forward. "And what are you?"

Blake's body reacted in kind by sinking further into her bed. "I-I don't understand what you're asking."

"How did you know the White Fang would be at the shipyard tonight?"

Blake gripped the sheets of her bed tightly. Did he somehow know about the investigating that she had been doing? "I didn't." She quickly blurted out. "I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

The headmaster did not seem to be impressed as he hummed to himself for a moment. "You wouldn't have been the first." He began, "But what happened tonight was not an isolated incident. You may not know this, but this was a organized attack on the city. While you may have seen what happened firsthand in the shipyard, there were many other attacks that happened simultaneously all around Vale." His cane clacked against the hospital floor. "I may be your headmaster, but I am also a Huntsman, and it is my sworn duty to protect this world from the forces that conspire against it." He leaned forward once more, making the hairs on her body stand on end. "Blake, are you sure there is nothing else you would like to tell me?"

It took her a moment to gather her composure long enough to give him a straight faced answer. "I'm sure."

Headmaster Ozpin's face returned to it's famous neutrality as he straightened his posture out once more. "Very well. Thank you for your time, Ms. Belladonna. The school will ensure that your recovery is a fast and pleasant one." He walked towards the door, his hand gripping the knob for only a brief moment before he stopped in his tracks.. "If you ever need to talk to me." He turned back to her, his face looking sorrowful once again. "Please, don't hesitate to ask." Without another word, he opened the door and stepped out.

Blake found herself letting out a large sigh as the headmaster disappeared out of sight. However, halfway through the sigh turned into a groan as she looked into the hall and saw a familiar blonde haired teen. Curiously, both he and the headmaster gave each other a smile and a nod as they passed by. Did they perhaps share a conversation today as well? The blonde stood in the open doorway, nervously shuffling back and forth. "He-hey, Blake. Can I come in?"

"I feel like you're going to anyways, so go ahead."

He looked up at her, a brief flash of hurt in his face. "I wouldn't do something like that... I'll uh, I'll just come back later."

"Jaune, just come in."

The blonde let out a sigh as he slowly inched into the room, his eyes focusing on anything that wasn't her. Blake groaned to herself. Did she really have to deal with this right after her conversation with the headmaster? "So, are you here to lecture me too?" Jaune jumped a little at her voice, finally looking at her as he recovered. With a nervous laugh that was familiar to her, he stepped over to her bed with a little more haste then he had before.

"No." Her eyes moved to widen, but she quickly put a stop to that. He didn't want to lecture her? That was something she hadn't expected when she saw him waiting outside of her room. Was there a chance that maybe he had come to understand why she had did what she had to do? "I'm gonna let her do that." He added, his head nodding towards the open door of her room. Tilting her head, she nearly paled up when she saw the towering inferno known as Yang Xiao Long that was barreling into the room, her eyes blazing red and her teeth clenched with enough force to snap a steel bar in half. She felt her jaw go numb for a brief moment before she muttered a single phrase, the sound just barely being audible to a now smiling Jaune.

"Oh Dust."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Looks like Yang is about to choke a Blake.

Apologies for being two days late, but this chapter took me awhile to write, it went through quite a few iterations before I finally decided on what you're reading here. Either way, we're now almost done with Volume 1's timeline! Whee! Despite the fact that this isn't following canon, it does still roughly follow the same timeline.  
Soon we'll be moving on to Volume 2's timeline and all the wonderful things that come with it!

Next chapter is scheduled for the 27th. Until then, happy trails!


	11. Chapter 10 - Little Pile of Secrets

Jaune and Ren shared an glance, followed by an awkward nod in silent agreement that they would refrain from saying anything to their teammates.

It had been fifteen minutes since the three of them entered Blake's hospital ward, and Yang had not stopped arguing with their raven haired teammate. Both sides were proving to be extremely stubborn, refusing to back down regardless of whether or not they were wrong or right. And neither Jaune or Ren wanted to attempt to break their way into the conversation, especially not with the risk that the two verbal combatants might turn on them for siding with the other.

"Look, I get that you want to help people Blake, so do I!" Yang took control of the conversation once again, continuing the verbal tug-of-war with her partner. "But running off to fight terrorists is not the way to do it! I've gotten into my fair share of dicey situations with bad people, but what you did was just stupid!"

Both Jaune and Ren turned their eyes to a fuming Blake as she opened her mouth to retaliate. "And what was I supposed to do? Just let innocent people die?!"

"You could maybe let the police do their jobs!" Their eyes went back to Yang. "Those weren't just run of the mill mooks at some club, Blake! Those were ACTUAL terrorists! Am I seriously having to explain danger to someone who took a sniper round to the leg?!" Yang's eyes shifted to Jaune, causing her fellow blonde to fidget anxiously. "And you! Why didn't you do a better job at STOPPING her?"

"Hey, woah!" He raised his hands up in defense. "I tried my best! Do you really expect me to try to overpower a friend who can kick my ass easily?"

She opened her mouth to offer a response, but couldn't find the words. He was technically right, despite the fact that he was a decent fighter, she highly doubted that he could overpower anyone on their team if he needed to. Instead, she focused on something else. "Friend. That's what you call her?" Jaune might call Blake a friend, but she certainly wouldn't. "She's barely spoken to us since we started classes at Beacon! I've tried to get along with her, but she does nothing but push me away! I don't think she's even shared a single sentence with Ren, and I've seen her talk to you all of two times!" She had tried her best to be friends with her partner, she always gave people a chance when it came to that sort of thing. But the one time she managed to get even remotely close to Blake, she shut herself off from everyone else and became hostile. And she was tired of it.

"Look, Yang, she HAS been speaking to me whenever she stops by Tuksons. And yeah, she's been a little distant, but I don't really see what that has to do with the situation-"

"It has EVERYTHING to do with the situation! The entire reason she ran in and got hurt is because she didn't want to listen to you! It proves that she doesn't care about what any of us have to say!"

"I do care about what you have to say!" Blake barged her way into the conversation.

"Like hell you do! You ignored everything Jaune said just to go run in and try to be a hero!"

"I didn't go fight the White Fang because I wanted to be a hero!"

"Then why did you go fight them then? Whatever you were risking your life for isn't worth it!"

Blake shut her eyes tightly and gripped her blanket, her anger coming to a boil. "I fought them because I don't want them ruining my life again! If I can't stop that, then I might as well just be dead!" There was silence after her comment, her eyes slowly opening in response. She shouldn't have said that. She didn't want to say that. Why did she say that? The thoughts were racing through her head as she stared at her three teammates, who were staring back with equal parts surprise and curiosity.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked as he stood from his chair. "How did the White Fang ruin your life before?" Blake sat motionless and silent, her eyes drifting to her lap. Jaune's thoughts drifted back to the previous night, a particularly important piece of information flashing in his mind. The White Fang Lieutenant that she referred to as "Banesaw" stated that she was to be captured alive for someone named Adam. "Was it that Banesaw guy?" His question garnered a nervous fidget from her. "Did he do something to you? What about that Adam guy that he mentioned?" The name "Adam" certainly caused a reaction in Blake, her eyes going wide as she curled back into her mattress, her teeth grinding in what appeared to be rage.

She had backed herself into a corner and she knew it. The worst part was, she didn't know of any way out of this situation that didn't involve either lying or revealing the truth. Lying was something that she was okay with, she had been doing it for a long time now after all. But there was always the option of telling the truth... Yeah, right. She felt slightly more comfortable about the fact that Jaune was also a faunus, and therefore knew about the prejudices that she had to face, but what would he think of her if he found out the truth? He would be ashamed to even be associated with her. Another Faunus, hiding themselves in shame while he proudly stood out in the world and stated who he was. And then there was the fact that she has been in the White Fang previously, meaning that she was a terrorist. But she wasn't what they are now, she could never bring herself to kill an innocent person in the name of "equality" as they called it. There was nothing equal about what the Fang was doing.

She just wanted them to be more active and aggressive in their protesting, that was all. She never wanted what the rest of the group had planned.

"Blake... you look like you're about to throw up." Yang's voice broke the silence in her head. "What's up with you all of a sudden? Are you having some kind of war flashback or something?"

"I..." She couldn't tell them. Not only would she endanger them along with herself... she knew that deep down they just wouldn't accept her. "I can't tell you."

"...Huh? Why not?" Yang waited for a response, but got none. Her anger quickly found its way back to the front of her mind. "You're kidding, right? You're just gonna go and say that the White Fang ruined your life, and when we ask you how you just give us a bullcrap excuse and then say you can't go into details?!"

They could never know the details, and she would do anything to make sure that they didn't. "I just can't, okay Yang? I'll listen to you guys from now on, I'll try to be a better friend, but I don't want to talk about what happened, alright?!"

The answer did nothing to sway her partners determination to learn more about her past. "I don't care about that, I want answ-"

"Blake." The two of them turned their attention to Jaune, who had gotten out of his chair. "It's okay if you don't want to tell us." Yang's anger soon turned on him, which was something that he had fully expected. He held out a hand in an attempt to give him a few more moments of speaking time. "We all have our secrets. And we all have our right to keep them." He locked eyes with Yang. "If she says she's willing to try and fix her mistakes, then I think we should give her the chance, don't you?"

Blake was stunned. She had fully expected the rest of her team to join in on the conversation, demanding to be told the truth. But something in Jaune's eyes lead her to believe that he knew what she was talking about. He knew how she felt, to keep a secret that could ruin your life if it got out. There was understanding in his eyes that she hadn't seen in them before. And it made her think, that maybe she could at least do good on her word and be friends with him, if not anyone else in her team.

Yang grit her teeth for a moment before reluctantly nodding. "Fine." He had a point, much to her annoyance. It wasn't fair to just start grilling her on information that she didn't want others to know. And it was true that she wanted to fix her mistakes, but how much of that was meant and how much of it was just a lie to get them off her back? She had experience with those kinds of "deals" when it came to Ruby. Sure, they were about small things like sharing cookies or cleaning her room, but things like that could apply to any situation. "One chance."

That was all that she would allow though.

Despite what Yang might have thought him however, Jaune was actually just as curious as Yang was. But he would be a huge hypocrite if he began to pry into the secrets of others. Sure, he could justify it by saying that his secrets had the potential to be deadly to both everyone around him, and himself. But who's to say that Blake's secrets weren't the same? The only time those kinds of secrets should be exposed is if they endanger others, or if the person wants to tell you about them. And neither of those were the current case.

Once things had finally calmed down, the rest of the day was mostly spent just discussing the prior night in greater detail. Despite the fact that Yang was still furious with her partner, she hid her anger well enough.

It wasn't until the doctor came into the room did things get heated again. Yang had made a particularly loud argument when the doctor told her that visiting hours were over, and that they couldn't stay with their teammate for the night. Despite the fact that the doctor looked like he was regretting having to kick them out, she was partially glad. She needed some private time while she was actually conscious. She had more that she had to think about.

After a few more minutes of loud complaining outside of her room, Jaune and Ren managed to get Yang to leave well enough alone. Blake found herself sighing in relief, and there was no doubt that a lot of other patients were sighing just like she was. At least now she had time to think to herself.

"Well, Ms. Belladonna." Or not.

"I regret to inform you that you are scheduled for release tomorrow morning." The doctor stated as he walked back into the room. "Your leg is in well enough condition for you to move around via the usage of crutches. And given the rate at which it's healing, I'd say you'll be walking with that leg again by next week." He chuckled to himself. "Aura is a heck of a thing, isn't it? I've been working in the medical field all my life and I still can't believe how fast it can heal injuries."

Blake didn't respond. She simply continued to stare into her sheets, contemplating all that had happened within the past forty-eight hours. It was still something that she found herself being unable to properly comprehend. "You know..." She heard the doctors voice again. "I know I'm only a medical doctor, and not a psychological one, but that doesn't mean you can't ask me for advice."

"I don't know what you mean." The words left her mouth quicker then she could even think them up.

"Heh." The doctor scratched at his beard for a moment. "The whole hospital heard your argument with your friend. Got a lot of noise complaints."

Blake could feel her cheeks heating up. "Uh... sorry."

"Ah, it's no problem. Besides, I think everyone is relieved that your partner was able to calm down in the end. And it's far more reassuring that you all made up after everything was said and done." He paused for a moment and coughed into his hand awkwardly. "You uh, you did make up, right? Your partner looked like she was still steaming when she left earlier, and I don't think it as all because of the visiting hours."

She grit her teeth. Yang most likely wasn't happy with the answers she got, but what could she do about it? She had nobody around that she could bounce the subject off of without revealing that she was a- Her eyes gleamed for a moment as she stared at the doctor. "Doctor, can I ask you a question?" She took a deep breath and steeled herself. "How do you live your life in the world?"

The doctor stared at her and pondered the question for a moment. "I assume you're asking because of my tail, right?" He chuckled to himself when she nodded. "Well, there are certainly people who look down on me. I've had many patients who flat out refuse to see me because I'm a Faunus." He scratched at his beard before taking an interest in the ground. "It hurt for awhile, knowing that people hated me because of my tail. But eventually, I learned to stop caring. There are going to be people who hate you because of what you are no matter where you go in the world, no matter what species you are."

"That might be true, but people hate Faunus more then-"

"Yeah yeah, that's true too, if you want to look at it that way." He interupted. "But the most important thing is surrounding yourself with people who care about who you are, not what you are." His face scrunched up a little. "Ugh. That sounded like some kind of after-school special."

"...But what if people reject you?"

"Is this about your bow?" Though he asked a question, he didn't give her a chance to respond. "Listen, if your friends start hating you because of the fact that your a Faunus, then they were never your friends to begin with." He paused for a moment, a small smile gracing his face. "Now, if they start hating to you because you lied to them, that might be another story."

Blake cracked a small smile. "Thank you, doctor. I think you've really helped me out." She paused for a moment before letting a small laugh escape from her lips. "In more ways than just medical."

"Well, I'm glad." The doctor laughed in return before he took his leave. "However, Ms. Belladonna..." He stopped at the doorway, turning back to her. "I'd like to ask you for a favor." Blake tilted her head slightly as she stared at the doctor, the smile on his face growing just a bit bigger. "Please don't end up in here again, alright?"

Blake smiled once more. "You have my word."

* * *

"Why am I subjecting myself to this torture?"

Jaune looked up from his desk, turning his body around just enough for him to spot two figures plopped down in front of the television. The clacking of game controllers signaled that they were playing a game, something that he could only imagine Yang roped their teammate Blake into. "Aw come on!" Yang nudged her partner's shoulder with her own. "This is fun and you know it!" The resulting groan from Blake told him that it was not fun and she knew it. Leaning over slightly, he managed to get a decent view of the television screen, only to see that the two of them were playing some sort of fighting game. One character was constantly being bounced off of a wall, only to end up being combo'd back into it by another.

"I don't think beating Blake up against a wall is something she finds fun, Yang." He called out, causing them to turn and look at him. Yang scoffed at his words as she paused their game. "Oh please," She flashed a rather evil smirk. "I'm not beating her! I'm teaching her on how NOT to play the game!"

"Hmm... Is that so?" He hummed for a moment before his eyes drifted over to their silent friend, who currently appeared to be reading a book on his bed. "Perhaps Ren could teach you a few things too?"

As if it were a command, Ren's face shot up from the book that he had been quietly reading, a gleam of excitement shining brightly in his eyes. Yang's reaction was one of pure fear, her skin turning white as a ghosts as she shot to her feet. "Uuh, yeah let's not do that. Hey, Blake, got any other ideas on how to spend the day?" There was no doubt that Yang was looking for something to save her own skin, she wouldn't go up against the game master again. Not until she was more prepared, at least.

"Actually, I did have an idea for something..." Blake reached into her pocket and slowly procured two small pieces of paper. "I remember how you wanted to go see a movie last week, Yang, so I thought maybe we could go this week." The two small paper tickets sparked a bigger reaction than she was expecting, yelping when her partner scooped her into a hug. "I take that as a confirmation that you want to go?" She coughed out as Yang continued to suffocate her.

"I really didn't think you'd remember that! Have you been holding onto those all this time?"

After her partner put her down, Blake shook her head as both an answer to Yang's question and a way to gather her senses. "No. The ones you had expired, these are new ones that I bought myself."

"Aaw!" Blake narrowly ducked under another attempted bearhug. "That's so sweet of you, Blakey!" The blonde continued her mewling, despite the fact that she had missed her target. "I guess it's a date then!"

"Um..." Blakes face gained a small amount of color. "Sorry, Yang. I don't uh... I'm not like that."

Yang stared at her partner in confusion for a moment before blowing a raspberry. "Pff." "I didn't mean it like that, Blake. Just cos it's a date doesn't mean you have to be romantic about it." Yang stated as she wrapped an arm around her. "So what time is the showing?"

"Five forty-five."

Yang glanced at the clock, noting that it was nearly four thirty. "Guess that gives us some time to get to Vale and grab a bite to eat." She stated as she began pulling her partner towards the door. "I know a nice place near the theater that has some good steak and salmon." She grinned a little when Blake's face lit up at the mention of fish.

And with that, the door slammed shut behind them, leaving Jaune and Ren behind.

"...They didn't even ask us if we wanted to go with them." Jaune sighed as he sat back down at his desk. "...I kinda wanted to go." He added before he went back to his studying.

"Perhaps it's for the better. Those two really weren't getting along until recently." Ren returned to his book, the room falling into a peaceful state of silence. "Seeing them like this now is very reassuring."

Ren was right, since returning from the hospital, Blake had stayed true to her word. She interacted with all of them and attempted to actually form bonds, although Jaune couldn't help but notice that despite everything, she still seemed a little distant from him. Perhaps she was still secretly angry at him for what happened the week before, but he really didn't care. He would do the same exact thing over and over again if he had to. Still though, it was nice to see that she was at least on a friendly basis with Yang again. And although the two of them became friends faster then he thought they would, it seemed as though Ren had formed the closest attachment to Blake out of all of them... Despite the fact that they rarely shared any spoken words. Perhaps it was some sort of silent ninja-like bond that they had going on, shared through their literature and silence.

And when Blake had finally gotten the cast off of her leg, she was even more social. Both her and Yang had taken Yang's sister Ruby out for lunch the other day, something that scared the rest of them. Because the more social she got, the more that they couldn't help that she was only being so just to appease them. But her actions seemed genuine, so if she was faking it, she was a master at doing so.

"Jaune? Are you alright?"

He looked up from his desk and turned to Ren, who had a look of concern on his face. Well, Ren-levels of concern, anyway. "I'm fine, why do you ask?" He responded in confusion. Ren simply stared down at Jaune's legs, his eyebrow going up in a fashion that suggested he didn't believe his team leader. Matching his partners gaze, Jaune saw that his right foot was rapidly tapping against the ground. Jaune grit his teeth behind his lips. Not this again... Shutting his book, he quickly hopped out of his chair and sat on his bed. "I must be feeling a bit jittery." He explained as he put on his shoes. "Maybe a walk around the campus will help." Just before the blonde walked out the door, he turned and informed Ren that he would meet him in the mess hall for dinner. He had heard that tonight was steak night.

"Jaune, wait." He turned to see that Ren had chased after him. "We need to talk for a moment. About your behavior this past week."

"W-what do you mean, Ren?"

"You've been acting strange, Jaune. You're very jittery, prone to being startled, and I've seen you get up and leave the room almost every night for hours on end." Ren's magenta eyes buckled down, piercing Jaune's nerves with their serious appearance. "Is something wrong?"

"It's... nothing, Ren." Jaune lied, waving a hand in front of him. "It's just a bit of aftershock from what went down in the city, I'll be fine."

Ren didn't seem to entirely believe the excuse, but he nodded anyway. "Alright. But if this persists, you may need to seek medical attention. We don't need your grades to falter because of what happened, nor do we need you to end up with any mental conditions from the battle you fought in."

Jaune chuckled lightly. "Thank you, Ren. You're a good friend." With another wave, Jaune turned and began walking down the hall. "I'll be fine." He called out one last time.

After that, as Jaune wandered around the campus, he couldn't help but think back at the problems HE had been having since last week. He was beginning to wonder if there was something seriously wrong with his head, because he had been getting many strange thoughts and urges since as of late. The biggest concerns were mostly the fact that he just always wanted to be outside. Even now, he felt like just letting loose and running around randomly. He was also getting a nasty case of insomnia, frequently getting up in the middle of the night to wander the halls of the campus aimlessly. There was also a craving for meat. Meat of any kind, it was such a terrible craving that it threatened to drive him mad if he didn't have some kind of meat on a daily basis.

...And then there was the day that he stalked one of the second year students around. Velvet, was her name. At least, he was pretty sure that's what it was. He really didn't care to remember. He just caught one glimpse of her ears, and he found himself following her around for the next hour. Of course, he was stealthy in his approaches, making sure to never alert her of his presence. He also always made it seem like he just naturally ended up wherever she was, in case someone else had been keeping an eye on him.

Even today, he found himself briefly looking for any sign of her before remembering that her and the rest of her team had left for a mission just that morning. The most terrifying thing about all these urges, is that they had begun to worsen over the course of the week. And now they practically clouded his mind if he wasn't actively engaging in some other activity or conversation.

Was he beginning to think that he actually was a Faunus now? No, that's racist. Faunus surely don't act like this, letting their instincts run wild. And his curse? That had been kept in check, there was no way that it could be anything relating to that.

Unless...

"Oof!"

Jaune nearly fell backwards after ramming into what he thought was a brick wall. But upon gathering his bearings, he found two red eyes piercing through his soul. What he had actually rammed into was a man that looked as if he had just crawled out of the seediest part of town, and with the massive sword that was holstered on his back, he certainly didn't want to offend this man. "S-sorry, I wasn't-"

"Watch where you're going kid." The man cut him off, his voice sounding tired and gravelly. Without another word, the man thoughtlessly shoved him aside and continued his stride towards Beacon Tower, muttering something about how "Oz's new recruits are getting worse each year."

"Oz?" Jaune mumbled to himself as he watched the man continue on his way. "Was he talking about the headmaster? Jeez, I feel sorry for him if he has to deal with a guy like that..."

* * *

Ozpin stared at the video feed for the fourth time, watching the events of the battle that had happened a week prior take place once more.

A woman in a red dress was on the ground, blood pooling around her. Yet she continued to defy death by struggling to her knees. Another woman, with a strange grimm-like mask on stood over her, raven-colored hair still rocking back and forth from the violent storm of action that had only just stopped. The masked woman raised a brilliant red katana that seemingly shimmered in the light that the street lamps provided. And then suddenly, the video cut for the smallest second. A single frame of static, that could barely be spotted. But that single millisecond was enough apparently, because the woman in the red dress had all but vanished.

Not even the blood that poured from her wounds was left.

Ozpin hummed as he took a sip of his coffee. He then watched as the raven-haired woman looked around frantically before rushing off camera. Ozpin quickly switched to another recording, this one catching the woman running into an alleyway. Another recording was pulled up and placed next to the first, this newer one observing the opposite end of the alley. The times were synced, and Ozpin watched the woman run into the alley once more. She did not come out of the other end. After that incident, the remaining White Fang in the area either fled or surrendered to the law enforcement that quickly swarmed the area. And with that, the video recording ended.

Ozpin let out a sigh. There were so many questions he had, so many theories as to what this event was about. But he had no way of narrowing things down until he was certain of who she was. Things would be so much clearer if he had the help that he requested with him-

"So what was so urgent that you needed me to haul ass back here for, Oz?"

Ozpin, in a rare moment of surprise, jerked his head upwards to see who had entered his office so quietly. There stood the man that he had trusted for so many years, the one who had done so much for him. His tattered red cape was thrown haphazardly over his shoulder, unable to hide the fact that the rest of his attire was just as tattered. The man's hand brushed passed his worn grey shirt, reaching into the pocket of his black pants to procure a metal flask. With great haste, he unscrewed the cap and brought the container to his lips. It was a terrible habit of his, and Ozpin had always wished that he would switch to a healthier liquid, like coffee. The man drank so much that he could be considered inebriated almost twenty-four seven. Especially from the look of his hair, the black, short hair looking matted and unkempt. The bags that hung under his bright red eyes also suggested that he had very little in the ways of sleep.

All in all, a quite unsightly mess of a man.

But appearances can be deceiving, and that was what Qrow Branwen was.

Ozpin relaxed slightly and leaned back into the comfort of his chair, his hands folded over one another on his lap. "I apologize for having to call back here so soon, Qrow. But I thank you for coming."

Qrow let out a small cough as he stowed his flask away from whence it came. "Soon is a bit of an understatement. Barely had my foot off of Vale before I suddenly get called back to the coop." He leaned forward, his brow furrowing. "So what's the deal?"

Ozpin's brow furrowed in response to Qrow's own, the headmaster leaning forward once again so that he could reach the keyboard of his computer. With a few taps of the keys, the video he had been playing earlier reappeared on his screen and began to play from the very beginning. With a small push, he spun the monitor around and showed the destruction to his friend as his answer. Qrow watched with morbid fascination as the two women fought, a few civilians being evaporated in the resulting blast of fire that emerged from the woman in the red dresses hand. "There are quite a few reasons why I called you back, Qrow." Ozpin began, his hand reaching out for the keyboard once again. "But the most important one is this."

With a click of the computer mouse, the video paused, centering upon the woman adorned with a grimm-mask and raven colored hair.

Qrow stared at the picture for a moment before a smirk lined his face. "What's so important about her? She doesn't look so tough." With a small chuckle, he leaned back into his chair. Though the resulting stare from Ozpin informed him that fooling around wasn't his best option. "Come on Oz, you know that ain't her."

Ozpin let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Thank you. I just needed to be sure."

"Needed to be sure? Come on, this one doesn't look anything like her. The mask is all wrong, the hair is straight, she doesn't even have her bandana that she got when she was ten." Qrow leaned forward and narrowed his eyes, studying the woman for a few moments before another smirk lined his lips. "Plus," He began as he leaned back in his chair. "This ones got a really nice rack. Nothin' like her at all."

"One would think that you would avoid implying such things about your sister, Qrow." Ozpin took a swig from his mug. "After all, I'm sure Taiyang would have a much different opinion on the matter."

"Tch. Nice one." Qrow's hand quickly dove into his pocket to retrieve what he referred to as his "comfort flask." It seemed like he would be emptying it of its contents today. "So from the looks of things, those stories about Vale getting attacked were true."

"Indeed." Ozpin nodded his head slightly. "The White Fang have chosen to make a bold move. They are not my highest priority, however."

"Really, Oz? Aren't you supposed to be protecting this world from the "forces that conspire against it?" as you put it? I don't think ignoring the White Fang is going to-"

"I do not plan to ignore them, Qrow. But look at the video footage again." Ozpin pressed play once more, the combat resuming. Qrow studied the woman in the red dress this time, noting that she was a bit too flat in the chest region to be of any interest to himself. The lower half wasn't that bad, though. But what really stood out was the flames that shot from her hand, and the power that radiated off of her body.

"So it's her, then? The one who attacked Amber?"

"You tell me, Qrow." Ozpin turned his monitor back around. "You were there, were you not."

"Yeah... Yeah, I was. Doesn't mean I got a good look at her when she ran off. There were three of em, remember?" Qrow folded his arms and sighed. "So I guess this means I'm staying in Vale for a bit longer, huh?"

Ozpin nodded. "Despite the fact that the woman looked mortally wounded, Amber has not recovered. So that can only mean one of two things, the woman is still alive, or her assailant has claimed the powers from her."

"And you think both of them are still in the city, right?"

"I do." Ozpin wheeled his chair back slightly, allowing him to stand. "I do not believe that these incidents were simply acts of terrorism to proclaim the White Fang's presence." He turned to the window, gazing at the cityscape that lingered in the distance, the setting sun bathing the landscape in a beautiful orange glow. "I believe this is simply the start of something much bigger. And I will need your help, most of all, Qrow."

Qrow couldn't help but smirk. "Heh, when don't you?"

* * *

Jaune's eyes snapped open.

With a very quiet sigh, he pulled himself out of bed, got dressed and silently left the room. Another sleepless night, just what he was looking forward to. Once again, he found himself trudging down the halls of Beacon, the only light being that from the night sky that shined through the windows. He was giving serious consideration to going to see the nurse, starting tomorrow. If Ren had begun noticing his behavior, it was time for him to get some professional help.

"Jaune?"

His hairs stood on end as the voice startled him from behind. Without even thinking, he felt his nails tingle and morph into claws, his teeth also briefly ached as they changed shape. But only for a moment did he allow his nerves to get the better of him, and he quickly cleared his mind and undid the small transformations that his subconscious had activated.

He turned slowly and glared into the darkness, amber eyes greeting him in shock. "I'm sorry." Blake's voice parted the veil. "I didn't mean to startle you." Jaune felt his body ease up as his teammate's visage became clear. But the expression on her face seemed as if she was troubled.

"It's alright, I shouldn't really be out this late anyway."

"I've noticed that you've been spending a lot of time out at night this past week. And according to Ren, so has he. Is something bothering you?" He was taken aback by that. Blake also knew about his nightly outings?

"Uh, no." He lied. "Sometimes I just get this feeling, that I want to be out in the dark." He paused for a moment and let his own words sink into his brain. "Well that sounded... stupid."

Blake smiled, the smallest hint of a chuckle escaped from her lips as she spoke. "No, I understand. Sometimes the darkness can be comforting, despite what a lot of people think. It's actually a little strange, how it can be terrifying one moment and safe the next." She took a few steps towards him. He could feel his entire body twitching with anticipation, he wanted to just reach out and... "I'm sorry for following you." She stopped in front of the window. "It's just, this past week, I've had a lot on my mind."

"Really?" From the way she acted, he certainly couldn't tell. "Anything bad?"

"...In a way, yes." She took a deep breath. "Do you remember what I said in the hospital last week? That I had a secret that would change everything?"

"Uuh... I don't think you said it would change everything. You just said that it was important."

She shook her head. "The details don't matter, Jaune." For a moment, his eyes stared at her swaying hair with strange curiosity. "I wanted to talk to you about that."

"Woah, hold on." He held out a hand. "I don't want you to tell me anything that you don't feel comfortable with."

"I wouldn't be standing here if I wasn't comfortable with it." That was a lie, she didn't want to be standing there at all. She never wanted anyone to find out any of this. But it wasn't fair to keep it from him of all people, not only a fellow Faunus, but one who had saved her life. The guilt from keeping such a secret from him, it was eating away at her insides like a starved rat. "Despite the fact that I've only been trying for a week, I feel like I really have made a better connection with you, Yang and Ren." She sighed as she began to pace back and forth. "And the secret. My secret. Well, if I don't tell at least one of you now, and you find out yourself later on... It would ruin everything."

"Truth be told, I didn't want any of you to ever find out." She chuckled sarcastically to herself. "I was completely fine with going through my entire four years without ever telling anyone." She smiled ever so slightly as she stopped in front of him. "But now I know that if anyone can understand me, even a little, it's you.

"Me, huh?" He was doubting that. He really wasn't the kind of guy that was relatable at all...

"So... I'm going to tell you..." Her hands began to reach up towards her head, her bow. "Everything about me."

Jaune carefully watched as her hands began to fiddle with her bow, when his eyes went wide. He was met with a sight that chilled him to his very bones, that made him want to faint. It was something that he had completely neglected since he came to Beacon, to Vale, and in this moment all of his worst fears were finally realized as he stared not at Blake Belladonna, but the window that was behind her. His vision pierced the night sky, fixated upon the one thing that would ruin his entire life.

The shattered moon of Remnant, in full bloom.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

I'm sure a lot of people thought I forgot about the fact that Jaune was supposed to be a werewolf in this.

Surprise! I didn't!

On that note, I hope that the way things wrapped up with Blake's recovery and her clashing with Yang didn't come off as too rushed, but I felt as if it was beginning to drone on at this point. And there really wasn't much of a way I could think of to make it sound... well, different.  
We know the reasons why she doesn't want to tell them her secret, and she made it clear to them that she didn't want to do so. What else could I really say?

And there's also plot that we need to get to, this isn't a fluff fic after all.

But for now, all I can say is, get excited. Because the werewolf part of the fic is now starting in full swing, baby!


	12. Chapter 11 - A Werewolf Among Us

Blake Belladonna had stumbled across a horrifying discovery.

She actually liked the members of her team as friends.

She had never intended to make friends with anyone at Beacon. She was fine with getting to know her teammate on an acquaintance level and leaving it at that for the entire four year duration of her education before parting ways without so much as a word. Her childhood? Her identity as a Faunus? Her past in the White Fang? None of that was ever meant to be brought to the surface. Yet in a single night, that plan was completely blown out the window. And in order to keep her secrets safe, she had to make a promise. A promise to actually interact with her team outside of the necessities. She could no longer push them away and ignore them like she had mostly been doing.

It all started the week of her recovery, and with her leg the way it was there was certainly no running from it. So she had been forced to endure hours of "girl talk" with her partner, Yang. Combine that with awful jokes, being forced to watch equally awful movies and "play" video games with the blonde and Blake had certainly thought she would have tried to force herself out of bed long enough to fall out their window. But, she quickly realized that her time in the Fang had desensitized her to the rest of the world. There was no sense of humor within the Fang that didn't end with a punchline about humans being gutted. People weren't talkative about anything outside of plans for attack. And experiencing all of this with Yang had become such an amazing breath of fresh air that Blake hadn't realized she missed it so much until now.

Ren had been a different story. She found her time with him to be the most comforting. There was something about him, perhaps it was just his presence, that calmed her to her very soul. He provided her with a source of clarity in the ocean of chaos and confusion that was her life. Couple that with the fact that he enjoyed a very similar taste in literature, and she came to respect the mostly silent "ninja" as she now referred to him, faster than the others. It was strange, but when she was a child she dreamed of being someone like Ren. Even now, her weapon of choice, her attire and her attitude all leaned towards what she wanted to be. And in a completely shocking moment, Blake found a particular piece tucked in between his mattress cushions that made her respect him even more. His choice of literature was certainly much similar to her own, MUCH similar. He was a man who knew what a true story was.

And Jaune... he was the only one that she couldn't really get a bead on. Mostly because she had resorted to punishing him for what had happened with some silent treatment. She had barely spoken to him for the first half of the week before finally deciding that he had enough of the cold shoulder. And to her surprise, his attitude towards her remained a constant throughout the week. It was if he knew that she was just venting, and was more than patient enough to wait until she actually wanted to speak to him again without a hint of remorse, annoyance or otherwise. Jaune certainly wasn't much of a talker, either. But instead of being another silent observer, he was more of an awkward blabber. Never knowing how to actually create and hold a conversation with someone for much longer than a few sentences before breaking down into a nervous disposition. At least, most of the time. There were times however, when his entire person seemed to buckle down into an entirely different one. Someone who knew how to carry themselves both physically and verbally, who wouldn't back down from anything or take no for an answer. That was the kind of person he turned into that night. But the problem with that side of the blonde was that it only showed itself when he or someone else needed it to. Perhaps her, or Yang, would be able to change that at some point.

But the most important thing about Jaune was the fact that he seemed to carry a sense of understanding about him. He always seemed to understand everyone's problems, even if he knew nothing about what the party in question was talking about. Although he certainly seemed to understand her. It was that look in his eyes, at the hospital, that made her think. She thought about everything she told herself that she wouldn't do while at Beacon. And it made her regret ever thinking those things. After all, her team was one that knew Jaune was a Faunus, and neither of them treated him any differently. It showed her that out of an entire species, they were at least people that she could count on to never discriminate against her. That was what made her think about revealing herself to them, telling them the truth.

Well, most of the truth. The fact that she was a Faunus. But her past with the White Fang? They could never learn that, no matter what. Accepting her as a Faunus was one thing, but accepting her as an ex-terrorist was something that she knew nobody would ever do. And she didn't expect anyone to, either.

And now, in the final moments that lead up to her exposing her ears in front of her friend, she found herself at a loss for words.

Her friend, Jaune, ran away from her.

At first, she thought it was because of her. Because of her secret. But that would be impossible, she had yet to actually reveal her ears. Her fingers still held the fabric of her bow in place. No, it had nothing to do with that. But there was a look on his face, one of pure terror. If she had to describe it in a way, it seemed as if he were staring down death itself. She stared at the now tiny figure of her friend, just before the darkness of night swallowed him up. Turning back to the window, she glanced up at the night sky and continued to wonder what had happened to him that made him suddenly turn tail and run. Did he perhaps take things the wrong way, and assumed that she was exposing herself to him in... THAT way? No, he couldn't have. He had to know better than that.

The only way to know for sure though was to confront him. So she quickly made sure her bow was still secured safely to her head before she pursued him.

* * *

To say that Jaune Arc's life was in danger would not be far from the truth at all.

Not only that, but he endangered the lives of countless others at Beacon Academy just with his presence alone. As the young blonde burst through the doors of the first year dormitories, he nearly collapsed onto the sidewalk. A single glance at the moon had sent his body and mind spiraling out of control, the transformation already having started without him being aware in the middle of the night. And now? The entire lower half of his body was that of an animal, fur now traveling up the rest of his body as he rapidly transformed.

How could he have let this happen? Had the prospect of his new life distracted him THAT much that he completely forgot about who and what he was? No, the truth of the matter was that there were signs all around him. It all started with his dream, hadn't it? And then the entire week leading up to this very moment, his wolf instincts had slowly been preparing for the night where they could be fully unleashed. He had to give himself a bit of credit, he had successfully fooled himself into believing that he was a normal human. And now it was about to cost him everything.

But, there was still a slimmer of hope. If he could just make it out to the forest, perhaps he could lose himself in it. Sure, there was still a possibility of facing Grimm, even this close to Beacon itself. But he would much rather spend his night murdering Beowulves than students. With all the strength he could muster, his legs kicked off the ground as he broke out into a mad dash for the treeline. And with his now supernaturally powerful muscles, it took him almost no time at all to reach his destination.

"JAUNE!"

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned, his gaze settling upon his friend Blake. She stood outside of the dormitories, frantically searching for him in the night. His mind began to cloud even further with thoughts of hunger and rage. He had put up with her for so long, and now he had the perfect opportunity to silence the girl once and for all. He would never need to share the same space with her again.

Jaune let out a gasp as he broke away from his thoughts, turning sharply as he plunged himself into the forest. He had been lucky that she hadn't been able to keep up with him, and hopefully she wouldn't hear the rustling of the trees and bushes, otherwise she might get the idea to follow him. Further and further he pushed into the forest, his transformation showing no signs of slowing as he began to feel sluggish and weak. He stopped for only a moment, resting his arm against a tree. No longer was it the arm of a human, but now that of some monster. Long, furry arms that ended in claws that were sharp as the sharpest sword. He made one last feeble attempt to carry on and gain just a little bit more distance from the school, but his body gave out on him.

The world slowed as he fell towards the forest floor.

And everything went black.

* * *

Blake burst back into the dorm room in a panic. "Guys! Jaune just ran off!" Her words seemed to stir the greatest reaction in Ren, who was almost immediately out of bed. Yang, however, took her time with stretching and yawning, something that frustrated her partner greatly.

"Wha?" She slurred as she sat up in her bed. "Why was Jaune even up?" She blinked. "Why are YOU even up?"

"Jaune's been getting up in the middle of the night a lot lately." Blake explained. "I think he just wanders around the dorms for awhile before coming back."

A very tired smile crept onto Yang's face. "And how do you know that, hmm?"

"I'm a light sleeper."

"I have also been catching Jaune up at night." Ren interjected, catching both of their attentions. "I told him that if it continued, I would take him to the nurse. It's not healthy. But more importantly, how do you know that he ran away?"

"Well I..." She fidgeted in place for a moment. "I wanted to show him something, and I figured now would have been the best time to do so." She nearly bit her tongue after realizing her poor choice of wording.

Yang blinked a few times before a lecherous smile crept onto her face. "Jeez. I kinda get why he ran off then. I mean, if you wanted to do that, you could have just asked me and Ren to leave the room. You don't have to whip them out in the-"

Blake could feel her cheeks heating up at an alarming rate. "Yang Xiao Long if you finish that sentence I will murder you."

"Look, Jaune's not exactly the most socially adept person." Yang waved the threat off. "He probably just misunderstood what you were trying to do and freaked out. That's all. I'm sure he'll come back in a little while."

"Yes, but what if there's something wrong with him?"

"He's a big boy, Blake. He'll be fine." Yang noticed the look of uncertainty on her partners face and let out a sigh. This was not the way she wanted to spend her weekend. "And if he's not back by morning, then we'll go looking for him. Okay?"

Blake's gaze fell onto Ren. "Ren? What's your take on the situation?"

Ren stayed silent for a minute, weighing his options. "I believe that Yang is right." The annoyed sigh from Blake made him feel the need to explain himself. "Jaune has been doing this for a few nights. He's been talking about having night terrors as well, so it's safe to assume that perhaps he perceived you as one."

Yang snickered, earning a glare from Blake. "So basically, you're saying that Blake is a night terror? Yeah, I'd buy that."

Blake let out another sigh, but ultimately gave in to her teammates opinions. "Fine. But if he's not back by the time I open my eyes when I wake up, I'm going to look for him." She plopped back onto her bed crudely before tossing the covers over herself, not even bothering to change out of her normal attire. "With or without you two."

Yang and Ren both shared an uneasy glance before they returned to the comfort of their sheets as well. Both of them were sure that everything would be better by tomorrow, after all, what was the worst thing Jaune could do while he ran around campus at night?

* * *

Awake. He was finally awake at last.

It had felt like an eternity since the last time he had been allowed to see the outside world again. And compared to wherever he was last time, this place was much different. The land was not as soft, the sounds and lights in the distance hinted at a much livelier population. But none of those thoughts stayed in his head for more then a single second. There was a more important issue at hand.

He hungered.

The wolf lifted itself off the ground and trudged forward, stopping on the first step to stretch his body out. His nose itched for a moment, causing him to sneeze. And with a final light shake of his fur, he began to make his way towards the noise in the distance. And once he finally arrived at his destination, he discovered the most peculiar type of prey.

Humans, freely walking around without a care in the world.

He had never hunted a human before, mostly just birds and rabbits. Sometimes the occasional bear or horse, but never a human. The wolf quickly dropped down onto all fours and stalked through the bushes, observing the humans as they continued to walk around out in the open. There were very few of them, coming from every which way. They were all also in a terrible location to hunt. If he attacked one now, he risked alerting the rest. He had learned when hunting with the alpha long ago that pack animals are best stalked until one of them separates from the group, then that is the time to strike.

And so he waited, crouched within that bush. And while he waited, he carefully observed each human. They came in many shapes and sizes, and the fur that they wore was quite interesting. Despite the fact that he lacked the eyes to see in color, he could see by the intricate designs of their fur that it was not that of a normal animal. Some of it was even removable, a concept that he couldn't quite wrap his head around. But so long as it was easy to tear through, he would have no problems-

There. One of them had broken from the sight of the others.

It was a very small human, that quickly trotted along down the path closest to him. He couldn't see much of it, it's fur was draped around it in a strange fashion. But it didn't matter, he had chosen his prey for the evening. He carefully watched as the human passed him by before silently exiting the bush from behind, keeping to the treelines in absolute silence. His prey needed to be just a bit farther, and then it would be absolutely safe for him to attack. He followed further and further, waiting until the human was within the right position.

His paw crushed a twig.

The human's head spun around quickly, it's delicate face glaring in the direction of the wolf. He completely froze up and buckled down. He could see the humans eyes tracing every little outline of the treeline he hid among, its hand slowly moving to its back. The wolf realized quickly that the human was staring at him dead on. There was no hiding from this prey once it was alerted, it was perceptive. The time to strike was now. With a vicious snarl, the wolf launched itself out of the bush with blinding speed, something that seemed to completely overwhelm the humans senses.

It screamed as he pounced on top of it, and the wolf lost himself in the thrill of the hunt for a brief moment. The seconds all mixed together before a familiar sensation overcame him.

Warmth. Blood. Flesh. All things that he had craved for the longest time. The wolf gazed down at its prey, inhaling the scent of his prey deeply. It bled as it laid underneath him, a strange and large metallic object clutched in its hand. The stomach was its weakest spot, it could not guard it in time and he had ripped into it. Not enough to expose any organs, however. Not yet at least.

It was still conscious, surprisingly, and it struggled weakly as it's eyes gazed up in fear at his own shimmering pools of blue. It tried to lift up the strange object in its hand, which he had now deduced to be a weapon of some kind. His snout curled into a snarl as his teeth were shown, blood dripping down his face. The human whimpered and attempted to cry out once more, but the clawed hand that pressed down against its throat dulled its voice barely to a mumbled and quiet slur. He licked his teeth for a moment, savoring the blood as it was lapped up by his tongue. He had missed this so much. He opened his mouth, his jaws baring down on the exposed flesh of the humans stomach, ready to finish ripping it open and begin his feast.

A familiar scream rang out, then an impact against his arm. The pain was comparable to a dull bee sting, but it was enough to get his attention. He paused and turned his head to the source of the attack, another one was small, and it carried what looked like a weapon. The human fired off something from the weapon it was holding, and the mysterious object embedded itself into his chest. The pain was still extremely dull, he shrugged the blow off like it was nothing. He raised himself off of the human he had pinned and tightened his muscles, ready to kill this new threat. But he was interrupted when another human charged at him from out of his field of vision, a sharp stick brandished in its hand. With a simple leap backwards, he dodged the attack. More humans gathered around, each of them wielding some kind of tool that they would no doubt use to help defend their own. He could not feast like this, he had thought he was stealthy. He could handle two, perhaps even three, but any more than that would result in his death. So made a decision. He reared back and took a deep breath before releasing a long and haunting howl, causing his attackers to step back in fear.

The break in the assault gave him time to run, the forest would serve as his sanctuary for the rest of the night. He turned and slipped back into the brush and lost himself deep within it's embrace.

The yelling and chaos died down to a whimper, then silence, as he ran further and further into the green abyss. Until finally, he stopped. As the man-turned-wolf sat down in a crouched position, he attempted to steady his breathing. The two spots in his arm and chest began to tingle and stir, the sensation of relief washing over the hound. Slowly, both bullets squirmed out of the holes they had made in his flesh before dropping to the forest floor. Soon after, in what looked like a miniature maelstrom in a sea of flesh, the wounds closed and healed completely. Fur soon overtook the spots once more, and he was good as new.

But he would get no relief this night, as a vicious snarl challenged him from behind. In one swift motion, he spun around and swung his clawed hand at the source of noise, cutting through the flesh of whatever had approached him as if it were air. The head of a Beowulf flopped to the forest floor, and the body soon followed it. And the blasphemous execution triggered another chaotic storm of violence as four more grimm launched themselves from the nearby bushes, all converging on the strange creature that had wandered into their territory.

There was confusion among the ranks of the Beowulves as they attacked. The creature looked like one of their own, yet it had brown fur and no mask-like bone plating on its face. But the confusion lasted for only a small millisecond as another one of their brothers was relieved of its head. This creature, despite its appearance, had a soul. And they could not allow it to live as a result.

The wolf hopped out of the way of a downward slash and followed up with another attack of its own. A pairs of Beowulf arms flopped to the forest floor along with the rest of the now decomposing parts of the others. And a swift kick sent the arms owner spiraling down with them. The last two Grimm split up and came at the wolf from opposite directions, but this also proved futile as the wolf's claws sunk deep into the Beowulf on his right, picking the creature up off the ground with the greatest of ease. The wolf then proceeded to turn quickly and slam the Grimm in his claws right on top of the other one with such a force that the snapping of their bodies could be heard with a sickening amount of detail.

The wolf released his grip on the corpse and took a few steps back, observing the now rapidly decomposing corpses of the Grimm around him. They were not edible. They were disgusting, rancid meat that would not fill him up. And what was worse still, was that he was exhausted from the humans attacking him and from fighting off the Grimm, all on an empty stomach. He whimpered for a moment as his fatigue began to set in, dragging himself over to the nearest bush to act as a temporary hiding spot. He would gather his strength then go out for another hunt, this time something more manageable than a human. With a tired snarl, he curled up within the leafy foliage and simply waited in silence. And he continued to wait, for his strength to return.

He never even remembered his eyes closing.

* * *

Blake barely got any sleep last night, waiting for Jaune to return. She was worried about him, and part of her was beginning to think that it was actually all her fault, and not a simple misunderstanding like Yang kept telling her. And despite the fact that she felt like collapsing from exhaustion, her eyes just refused to close. Her eyelids would sag a little bit, but they refused to go any lower than that.

Both Yang and Ren watched their raven-haired teammate quietly as they went about their morning routine, after which they had promised to go looking for Jaune if he still had not returned by that point. It had taken a lot of convincing to keep her from charging out the door, and even now she looked as if she were about to burst from her bed and do so.

Yang was about to finally cave in and try to give her partner even more reassurance, when a knock at the door startled them all. Blake nearly leapt out of her bed, running to the door as she practically threw it open. However, instead of the relief she so desperately needed, fear gripped her in full force. Glynda Goodwitch was standing at the door, and she looked... sad.

"Oh, hello Ms. Belladonna." Glynda's greeting seemed rather half-hearted as her eyes peered behind the girl. "Is your partner in?"

Almost as soon as she was mentioned, Yang was at the doorway. "Yo, Goodwitch! Whatever it is, I didn't do it!" She assured with a grin.

Glynda stared at the two in silence for a moment before letting out a rather tired, and worrying sigh. Her shoulders also drooped before she broke eye contact with the two of them and chose to look at the clipboard tucked under her arm.

"What's wrong, Prof?"

"Ms. Xiao Long... I have come to inform you of some rather disturbing news."

Yang's smile turned into a frown as she tilted her head slightly. "What's wrong?"

"There has been an... incident." Glynda took a deep breath, her face turning stone solid and emotionless.

"Your sister, Ruby Rose, was brought into the infirmary last night. She is in critical condition."


	13. Chapter 12 - Upset Stomach

Jaune woke up, his entire body aching with pain. And even the slightest movement he made disturbed wherever he was. As he pushed himself off of the ground, he noticed that some kind of plant was practically hugging his body. Had he hidden inside of a bush? Why would he have had to do that? Did the Grimm attack him in the middle of the night?

Regardless of what happened, his priority right now was getting back to the school. And the breeze that caressed his body informed him that he would need to get new clothes, too. As he glanced down at his nether-region, he was glad to see that his pants were at least in one piece. Well, mostly shredded to bits, but the parts that needed to cover him were still doing so, and they showed no signs of slipping off. His mother had shown him how to enhance his own clothing with special threads made from dust, particularly the more solid kind like Earth dust. This made the fabric much more durable at the cost of being a lot more expensive to make.

As the now human-shaped werewolf trudged through the forest, he could only hope that he had been able to get far enough away from Beacon to trick his feral form into roaming around aimlessly for the night. That wouldn't happen again, however. Next time he would do something much safer, like renting a warehouse or some kind of building where he could safely lock himself for the evening. It didn't take much to sate a werewolf when they were feral, place a piece of drugged meat out for them to enjoy when they wake up and the problem is mostly solved so long as nobody comes along to provoke the beast. Of course, you would feel extra groggy in the morning, but it was all worth it.

Jaune soon exited the forest and stumbled onto the Beacon campus once more. Strangely enough, he hadn't gone as deep as he was hoping. But judging from the peaceful state of the school, he had hit the jackpot on his luck. If he had gone on a rampage, or attacked anyone, surely there would be a huge uproar and trained huntsmen staking out the surrounding area in search for the creature that was threatening the school, right? But aside from the odd stares he was getting for being shirtless, everything was just the way he wanted it to be. Normal. Although, now he had to deal with the problem of explaining to Blake, and most likely the other two members of his team, what had happened last night when he suddenly just ran off.

He paused for a moment as he reached their dorm room, taking a long and deep breath before finally pulling the key out of his pocket. He slowly turned the knob before just swinging the door wide open, prepared to face the full onslaught of an angry Yang and Blake.

But instead, he found a completely empty room.

It was something that baffled him. After all, today was saturday. They didn't have any classes on weekends, so where could the three of his friends possibly have gone? Did they go out looking for him maybe? That would be problematic, but he would message them with his scroll after he got dressed so they could come back from wherever they were looking and lay into him like he properly deserved. With the tension eased just a little, he changed out of his tattered pants and threw on a fresh set of clothes. Unfortunately for him, his shoes had been completely obliterated by his transformation process. He always packed a spare pair, but it meant that he would need to head down to Vale at a later date and purchase another. And he didn't exactly have the biggest budget in the world, especially not when he was out on his own with no financial aid from anyone.

With a tired sigh, Jaune sat down on his bed and reached towards his night stand. He always had his scroll by his lamp, since it also doubled as his alarm clock. Curiously, there seemed to be a small piece of paper taped to the device as he scooped it up in his hands. The handwriting was a very neat cursive, which meant that it either had to come from Ren or Blake. It certainly wouldn't have been Yangs.

"Jaune, I don't know what happened last night, but if you happen to come back before we see you, something happened to Yang's sister, Ruby. She was brought into Beacon's hospital wing last night. - Blake"

He didn't even feel the note slip from his hand, no he was far too busy having a panic attack. Without even stopping to think, he quickly threw on his shoes, grabbed his scroll and charged out the door.

He had to know for himself what had happened to the girl that had been injured.

* * *

Yang stood in the doorway of the medical ward, completely devoid of any emotion. Part of her mind was stuck in the past, remembering the day she nearly got both herself and her sister killed in the forest after trying to find her own mother. And the other part of her mind was stuck contemplating on how her baby sister could have ended up in this situation in the schools medical ward. How could this have happened at a school that was training them to fight the Grimm? Why weren't there better security measures in place to prevent this from happening?

"Ms. Xiao Long." She briefly came back to reality when the nurse approached her. "There is a chair next to your sisters bed, I advise that you use it."

"I'm fine." It was a cold and dead response. One that made everyone in the room uneasy.

"You are as white as a ghost, young lady. I don't think you're as fine as you say." She heard Professor Goodwitch interject, something that made her grit her own teeth. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? That's about all the staff around here seemed to be good for anyways.

"Let her stand if she wants to, Glynda." Yang's eyes widened as she heard the raspy, tired that she was so familiar with. Her Uncle Qrow, walked into the room and gently moved her to the side. "If she falls over, she's more than capable of picking herself up." He added with a small smirk. Both of them nearly ended up on the floor when Yang had grabbed onto him, wrapping her arms around him in a very tight hug. "Hey, kiddo." He ruffled the top of her hair, something she would normally be furious at, but right now she only felt even worse.

"So." Qrow began. "How is she?"

"Well, her abdomen had taken a heavy blow, an entire chunk of it was ripped off." The nurse began. "Luckily, it was mostly just surface skin. She had a scratch on her stomach, most likely from a tooth grazing it, but it was light enough to not require attention. Her stitches have settled nicely, and she stabilized an hour ago."

Qrow nodded a few times before turning to Glynda. "And how exactly did this happen, Goodwitch?"

If she was intimidated by the seasoned huntsman's glowering, she did not show it at all. "The students that brought her in reported about a particularly large and fearsome Alpha Beowulf. One young man said he had heard the sounds of conflict before stumbling across the Grimm on top of Ms. Rose. Once the students attacked it, they said that it let out what they described as a "bone-chilling" howl before it escaped into the woods." She straightened her glasses as she examined the clipboard in her arms. "We have had a problem with Beowulves around the campus as of late, and we can only assume that this is the source of our infestation."

As the conversation continued on, Yang began to drown out the words once more. Ruby was stable, that took some of the weight on her shoulders. Enough to allow her a bit more clarity with the rest of the rooms occupants. Her eyes drifted over to Ruby's team, the three members all scattered around the room. Nora was near the window, doing her best not to look at the room around her. Pyrrha was closer to Ruby, her hands in her lap while her leg vigorously tapped against the floor. The normally composed gladiator looked like a nervous wreck.

And then there was the Schnee. Weiss was the closest, standing near her sisters bed, her arms folded defiantly across her chest. The scowl that she wore was one that made Yang's hatred of her burn brighter. But the flames died down when the heiresses expression shifted into one of sadness, almost as if she were about to cry as well. At least, before her face shifted back into the annoyed scowl. It was almost as if she had somewhere else to be, but at the same time she still wanted to show actual concern. It wasn't until the heiress finally threw her arms down and began to speak did Yang's anger flare up again. "I told that dolt not to go out so late! And look what happened to her! She is the pinnacle of idiocy!"

That's when she felt a vein pop, somewhere in her head. And her fist had soon found its way into the Heiress's face, knocking the fragile girl to the floor.

"Hey, HEY!" Yang heard Qrow's voice shout into her ears, the older man being wrapped around her once again. "Calm down, Yang!" She blinked a few times, glancing down to the floor where the heiress now lay, cradling her face. Pyrrha was now crouched down beside her, and Nora seemed to have lost a bit of her composure as well.

Blake and Ren, whom Yang had forgotten even existed, soon blocked her vision of the heiress. All it had taken was a simple sentence to send her flying off the handle, but it felt so good to finally shut her up for once. She expected the heiress to fly into a rage as well, but from what she could see of the white-haired rich girl, she seemed to be staring into space, a look of shock frozen on her face. _She got lucky this time._ Yang thought to herself as she allowed her body to calm down.

* * *

Nobody had really noticed when Jaune slipped into the room, thanks to all the commotion with Yang hitting Weiss. However, both Blake and Ren with their keen sense of awareness had seen him fidget his way into the corner from the door. But both of them had more pressing matters right now, such as making sure that their teammate was calm, and that she wouldn't have another outburst due to her bond with her little sister. But Blake could just tell from the look on his face that he felt just as strongly for the girl recovering in bed as her sister. Like Yang, he seemed to freeze up at the sight of Ruby, only this time he looked as if he might hurl. His knees were practically clacking together as they shook, and for the second time she saw what looked like genuine fear on her team leaders face.

She waited until her partner had calmed down enough for her to break away and talk to their team leader. Despite the fact that the punch was well deserved, she didn't want Yang ripping the Schnee apart and getting herself expelled, or worse. They weren't worth putting that much effort into.

And now that she actually looked at Jaune as he sat down in a chair far away from Ruby, she could see that he was significantly worse for wear. He seemed to favor his head, cradling it with one of his hands as he stared down at the floor. "Jaune?" He nearly jumped out of his seat at the mention of his name. "Are you alright?"

"Blake... I-I can explain about last night!" The way that Blake shook her head in response told him that now would probably not be the best time to elaborate on such an explanation, and instead answer the question that he had been asked instead. "Y-yeah I'm... No, no actually I'm not alright." He took a deep breath. "What happened to her?"

"Beowulf." She responded. "An alpha, to be exact. Ruby had stayed out past curfew to work on her weapon in the forge, and it ambushed her on her way back to the dorms."

"O-oh yeah? And what else happened?"

"A few students who were nearby attacked it, and chased it off into the woods just outside Beacon."

"THEY ATTACKED IT?!" Jaune's shout drew the attention of nearly everyone in the room, to which Yang shot him a death glare before shushing him loudly. "Sorry!"

"Wh-aa? Oh, hey guys..."

Everyone turned their attention to the now awake Ruby, who let out a small yawn as she sat up in her bed. A small squeak of pain escape from her lips as she tried to stretch, causing her to sink back down into the mattress's soft embrace. "RUBY!" And the crushing hug that her sister gave her caused a much louder, and less subtle squawk. "OW!" She cried out as she struggled in her sisters grip. "Yang! You're crushing me!"

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Yang shouted as she began to rock back and forth. "Don't ever stay up past your bed time ever again!"

"She won't get the chance to if you don't ease up on her, kid." Qrow's raspy voice rang around in Ruby's ears, the small girl becoming incredibly excited at the fact that her Uncle was in the room with her and her sister. With a small shout, she wriggled her way out from Yang's arms and nearly fell out of the bed. "Uncle Qrow!"

"Hey woah, take it easy there." He met the girl and gently pushed her back into the bed. "You're supposed to be in critical condition, aren't ya?"

"What are you doing here, Uncle Qrow? I thought you were on a mission!"

"Yeah, well. I heard my niece was hurt, so I came rushing back to see her." Qrow answered as he ruffled the hair on her head. "Glad to see you're okay, squirt."

"Yep! I'm feeling... sort of okay-ish. My stomach really hurts though."

"I'd imagine it would, given the fact that a Beowulf mauled it." Professor Goodwitch interjected, garnering everyone's attention. "And while I hate to ask such questions so soon, I believe there is a matter of urgency in this situation. So please, Ms. Rose, would you tell us what you remember of last night?"

"Well, I remember walking back to the dorms after working on Crescent Rose in the Forge, and I took the path that borders the forest around the campus. Then I heard a branch snap, so I looked and saw these bright blue eyes staring at me from the brush. And by the time I got Crescent Rose out again, the Beowulf was already out of the bushes and attacking me."

Jaune felt his stomach lurch as the rest of the room suddenly became more interested in the story.

"Bright blue eyes?" Glynda questioned as she glanced down at her tablet, her fingers already typing away. "I've never heard of a Beowulf, or any Grimm for that matter, that had bright blue eyes. Perhaps maybe this isn't the work of a Grimm, after all. Maybe an over-sized wolf."

"No. It was definitely a Beowulf." Ruby stated as she rubbed her wound. "It got up on two legs and fought me... well, thrashed me, before it knocked me over and sunk its teeth into me. It's body was more humanoid than animal, just like any other Beowulf." The rest of the rooms occupants each nodded to themselves, that certainly did sound like a Beowulf. With the exception of the blue eyes, that is. "Oh, there is one other thing." Ruby fiddled with her thumbs and looked down at her sheets, as if she were embarrassed to describe her attacker further. "I know this is gonna sound weird but... I think the Beowulf had pants on."

"P-pants?" Jaunt was the first to stutter out the word.

"Look, don't laugh, okay!" Ruby folded her arms across her chest and sunk deeper into her sheets. "I know what I saw. And it looked like it had a pair of pants on!"

"Pff... Pants!" It was Yang's turn to repeat the word as she buried her face into her sisters sheets as well. "Wh-what brand were they? Were they at least a good one?"

"Yaaang... I don't know. They just looked like really ripped up dark blue jeans." She sighed. "It's not like I could get a good look. I was a little busy with being almost eaten by it."

"BLEURGH!"

Everyone's attention was garnered towards the corner of the room, where Jaune was now vomiting into the trash can. The boy making retched noises as he... wretched into the bin, something that he seemingly started doing out of nowhere. Blake, still being the closest, hovered over him in an attempt to make sure he was at least semi-alright. Though she was reluctant to actually put a hand on him for fear of making it worse. "Jaune? What's wrong with you?"

"Uh... I-It's..." He pulled his head out of the trash can for a moment, holding his stomach as if he were in pain. "It's the reason why I ran off last night..." His explanation sounded strangely off, as if he didn't believe his own words. "I think I caught a bad virus..."

"Then why the heck did you come here?!" Yang suddenly shouted, startling the poor boy. "Are you trying to get my sister sick!?"

"Yang, you know that's not-" Blake's words were interrupted however, when Glynda came to her partner's aid. "I agree with Ms. Xiao Long." The professor began, "If you knew you were sick, and you knew of Ruby's condition, it would have been best for you to avoid coming here. You could make her condition worse."

Blake found her brow furrowing a bit as her gaze shifted between the Professor and her partner. Were they honestly being serious, that a sick person should avoid the medical wing just because there are other sick people? What sense did that make? But even more shockingly, Jaune seemed to agree with their sentiments. "You're right." He began to inch his way towards the door. "I just wanted to make sure Ruby was alright. And now that I've seen that she is, I'm just gonna go now."

"Oh. Alright then, bye, Jaune." Ruby waved, a small frown lining her face. And the frown only deepened when he didn't wave back, instead he seemed to rush out of the room as if he had seen a ghost. But that was an understandable reaction when you had both Yang Xiao Long and Professor Goodwitch standing against you. A ghost would probably be better company in that scenario.

There was silence for a few moments after Jaune had left. Blake had made her way over to her partner, ready to offer her a few choice words on her aggressive behavior. "You know how you're always talking about 'dick moves,' Yang? I think that was one of them." The blonde seemed to ignore her partner for a moment as she continued to focus on her sister. "There was no real reason for you to pressure Jaune into leaving. He has every right to be here, he's one of Ruby's friends."

"My first friend here at Beacon..." Ruby added as she glanced away from her sister.

"Yeah well... there are still some people who don't have a right to be here." Yang threw out a particularly nasty glare towards Weiss, who had taken to silently sitting in the corner with Pyrrha and Nora. Upon having the blondes gaze directed at her, she immediately looked away and shuffled nervously in her seat.

"Yang..." Ruby yawned loudly. "Be nice to Weiss. She cares for me as much as you do."

"Yeah, sure she does, Ruby. Just like how Beowulves are learning how to wear pants." Yang reached over and pulled her sisters covers further over her body, tucking her in just like she used to do when they were kids. "I think it's best if you got some sleep. You need to recover, pronto so we can get you back in action."

"...Alright." Ruby whined as she snuggled into her pillow. "Just promise me you won't be mean to Weiss or Jaune anymore, okay?"

"Jaune, yes. Weiss, no."

"Yaaang..."

"Alright, alright." She finally surrendered as she leaned over to plant a kiss on her sisters forehead. "I promise, Ruby."

"Thanks!" Ruby responded with a small smile before she began to doze off.

"Well, on that note, I believe it is time for the rest of you to take your leave." Professor Goodwitch stated as she began to direct everyone to the door. Most of the people present were reluctant, but decided not to go against someone like the Professor. Weiss in particular seemed as if she had wanted to stay longer, staring at the blonde that had just decked her in the face only a short while ago with a mournful gaze.

Ren had decided to follow the rest of team RSNN and keep Nora's spirits bolstered while she waited for her team leader to recover. Neither Blake nor Yang had any arguments over this, but Yang had very harsh objections when she was told to leave her sister along with the rest of them. One very quiet argument later, and Yang had cemented herself a spot next to her little sister for the rest of the day, and night.

"Just give me a call if you need anything, Yang." Blake offered as she began to make her way out of the room. "Oh, and be sure to not neglect yourself while you're here. Even if it only is for one day, we all know you're not going to leave your sisters side for anything." Her nose scrunched up. "Even personal hygiene."

"Hey, woah. I take offense to that one, Blake. I'm fresh as a daisy right now!"

"And you should keep it that way." Blake deadpanned back before she turned and offered a half-wave as she walked out the door.

At least she would have the dorm room to herself when she got back... mostly. Hopefully Jaune hadn't thrown up on everything.

* * *

After her partner had finally left, Yang had decided to sit down next to her sister once more. Despite the fact that she was in a much more stable condition, especially given the fact that she was able to wake up and hold a conversation for a little while, Yang still felt the need to stay by her side throughout the entire process.

"So, you wanna explain what happened with the Schnee?" The raspy voice of her uncle startled her for a moment, causing her head to snap in the direction it came from.

"I thought you left."

"And I thought Tai would have taught you better." Qrow mumbled as he slowly walked over to her. "I get that the Schnee's have a reputation of being a bit less than sympathetic, but that doesn't give you the right to clobber them. No matter how good it might feel."

Yang knew that he was right, but that didn't change the fact that she didn't regret throwing those punches at all. "With how much trouble she's been for Ruby, I think I might disagree."

"Yeah well, a lot of other people would be inclined to disagree too."

"What are you even doing here, anyway?"

"I'm sure by now you know all about the White Fang's recent little party in Vale. Ol' Ozpin called me over to help with the situation a little bit."

"Oh yeah?" A small smile formed on her lips. "What's an old man like you gonna do? Shake a stick and tell them to get off your lawn?"

"Hey now, watch that mouth of yours. Ain't no old men in THIS room." The two of them shared a very small, and very brief, laugh. "I'm here to gather information on them, find out what they're doing, where they're doing it and why. Then, me and Oz gather up some huntsmen and take them out."

"...Is it really that bad?"

Qrow took out his flask and shook it a little. "Eh, don't know yet. But me and Oz are just assuming it's some new recruits getting bold."

"I didn't know that you and Headmaster Ozpin knew each other..."

"Oh yeah, me and ol Oz go way back. All the way back to when I was your age." Qrow took a swig from his flask. "And I see the way he runs this school hasn't changed one bit."

The biting sarcasm in her uncles voice was something that she would have found herself agreeing with had she not picked up on what he had just said. "Wait, Ozpin was still the headmaster, even back then?" She blinked a few times. "Woah. He looks amazing for being such an ancient fossil!" Qrow lurched forward, stifling a laugh as he nearly fell out of his chair. "Do you think he could give me some tips? Cos I wanna stay looking this good for a long time." She added, not noticing her Uncle's mood suddenly turning sour.

"You don't want any tips from him on that..." He mumbled to himself before leaning back on his chair. "I guess for once in my life, I had good timing though. All the trouble just seems to be piling on at once."

"Don't you mean for the second time in your life?"

Qrow pondered her words for a moment before sighing. "Oh yeah. I think this old man remembers something about two little brats who got lost in the forest once, almost got turned into chew toys for the grimm." Despite the response's well intended nature, it seemed to have the opposite effect on Yang, who hunkered down in her seat more. With another sigh, this one heavier, Qrow began to speak once again.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is what you both signed up for." That got his nieces attention, causing her to sit straight up in her chair. "And I know it's hard to admit," He continued, "But you and your sister are gonna see each other bloodied and beaten. And so long as neither of you are dead or crippled, you've gotta just suck it up and keep moving forward."

"I know that, Uncle Qrow. But..." She glanced over to her sleeping sister. "If there's any pain that I can prevent, I want to do that."

"Heh. You sound just like those two." With a small growl, Qrow got to his feet. "Listen, Yang. Sometimes, a little pain is good. It helps teach you about your mistakes far better than words or pictures can. At least, in our field, anyway." His hands briefly ran through Yang's hair. And he knew just how lucky he was to be able to do such a thing and still keep that hand attached. "So just think on that, because there's going to be a day when Ruby's not gonna listen to you anymore, and she's just going to run off and do her own thing. And she needs to be prepared to face those consequences on her own." With that, he turned to the door and stopped right before it. "You've got your own life to live. And you can't do that if you're baby sitting your sister."

Yang watched as he closed the door, not bothering to offer a response to him. Instead, she simply decided to turn back to her sister and continue to watch over her, placing a hand on the smaller girls forehead. Ruby gave a small smile as she cuddled deeper into her sheets, showing no signs of having been in a life threatening situation only hours ago.

As Blake entered their dorm room, she expected to be greeted by her team leader. But there was an odd silence, matched by a very unnerving emptiness within the room. Especially Jaune's bed, which was made as if nobody had ever even slept in it before. And atop his pillow lay a white envelope addressed to "My Friends" on it.

From the title alone, she could deduce that something was wrong. But as she walked over to the bed and reached for the envelope, she was silently hoping that it was simply a letter stating that he had gone into Vale to seek out some medical aid, since the medical wing in the academy had been so rudely snatched away from him.

But as she opened the letter up and began to read it's contents, she found that the letter was rather short and to the point with what exactly was going on.

Jaune had left once again, only this time he wasn't coming back.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

So here is another chapter that I struggled to write. I'm not really sure why, but sometimes there are chapters, most of which involve sitting down and talking, that I just don't ever feel like I've done right. It isn't with every single chapter that involves such things, but it is an odd occurrence that creates a feeling of frustration that I just can't shake no matter what, and I know for a fact that I'll probably never be able to do so.  
And it's not fair to both myself or you all for me to hold a chapter in for extended periods of time, so instead I use these opportunities to fuel myself for the chapters ahead while also coming back to clean up the problematic ones to the best of my ability.

Either way, it's here now and it's not going anywhere! I still have confidence in my own ability to write, and I believe that sometimes I may judge myself a bit too harshly.

Oh, and that one quote wasn't a reference to Monty specifically, I just sort of wrote that without thinking and then later realized that it alluded to the man himself.


	14. Chapter 13 - Bloodlines

To say that Jaune Arc's life was falling apart at the seams would be an understatement.

And as he ran through the streets of Vale, panicking over what he had done, the only thing he could think of right now is that there was still a chance that he could save his friend.

" _Our blood is cursed, Jaune."_ His fathers words echoed in his head, from a time when he was just starting to understand what he truly was. _"We are sick people. But our disease isn't one that harms our body, it simply changes it. Science would have us believe that it's simply some strange phenomena that is to be eradicated. But science often lacks a logical answer when it comes to things that cannot be explained. And our disease is from one such thing."_

" _Where did our... uh.. like- like-an-throw-pea come from, dad?"_

He remembered the look on his fathers face as it shifted to one of disgust. _"You know of our family motto, right? 'An Arc never goes back on his word.' Well, your great-great grandfather was the man who both invented that motto, and broke his word."_

" _Breaking a promise gives you a disease?!"_

" _No, son. It was during a great war, and your grandfather, along with his small battalion crossed the shifting sands of Vacuo in order to aid in the battle for the lands rich resources. During one such excursion into a war-torn oasis, he came across a caravan of innocents."_

Jaune often remembered his mother correcting his father, calling the caravan 'Gypsies' and not innocents. He never did look up what a Gypsy was like he wanted to.

" _They were low on supplies and arms, only a small family remained. And with the Grimm flooding the battlefield, attracted by the flames of war, they begged your grandfather for his aid. And he gave them his word that he would protect them."_

" _But,"_ His father would always glance at Crocea Mors whenever he would talk about his family lineage. But it was a look that was filled with disappointment. It was something that Jaune had never gotten used to.

" _He didn't keep his word. Instead he abandoned the caravan to aid his allies, and when he returned, he found the family torn to pieces with only one survivor. The wife, also a mother, who had lost everything confronted your grandfather in a justified rage. And with a wave of her hands, and a few bitter words, our families blood was forever cursed with this disease."_

" _So it's a witches curse?"_

" _Not exactly. Over the years, the Arc family has learned so much about this disease though. And the most important thing we have learned aside from the moon being our mortal enemy, is that this is a disease that is not bound to us. On the night of a full moon, that is when the disease pushes itself to the surface and becomes the most contagious. A single bite from the werewolves teeth is all it takes to spread the infection to another."_

And in those conversations, Jaune would learn something important. Lycanthropy could possibly be cured. But it was only a possibility that largely depended on the person who was infected, and how long they had been infected for. His father would tell him any longer than forty-eight hours would most likely mean that the disease would become a permanent one. And even if they did receive the cure, there was still only a chance that it would work.

Jaune glanced down the list again, just to make sure it was correct. A teaspoon of ground Wolfbane, a eyedropper full of pure, melted silver, and blood from the beast that attacked the person. Mix it all together in a container filled with clean water, and you would have a disgusting concoction that could potentially cure someone of their lycanthropy. There was also a supposed telltale sign that the medicine had worked, but his father had never stated what that might be.

But what mattered most right now was getting the ingredients, and the Wolfbane would be the absolute hardest to find.

Wolfbane, Jaune had quickly learned, was an illegal herb that was known to be highly toxic. Not only that, when ground and added to certain mixtures it created potent drugs that caused hallucinations. The herb was originally rumored to keep Beowolves away from civilizations if it was burned in an incense, but that was quickly debunked. He knew that it would be entirely possible to get some Wolfbane, there was someone in Vale that he knew would have it.

He just had to find him again. And when time was of the essence, he couldn't afford to be wasting it-

"Oof!"

Jaune found himself slamming into a person at full force, knocking both parties to the ground. With a groan, he sat up and glanced up to get a better look at who he had practically tackled. It was a girl, one who seemed to like green by the looks of it. Most of her outfit consisted of the color, a pale green blouse with a few green lines going through it here and there. Where the blouse ended, black stockings with more green stripes began. And glancing back up, even the girls eyes were green. Her hair was surprisingly orange, and she had a pink bow planted atop her head that reminded him a little bit of Blake's black one.

"I'm sorry," Jaune apologized as he picked himself up off the ground quickly before extending a hand out for the girl. "I'm in a hurry and I wasn't watching where I was going. I didn't mean to knock you over."

"Oh, it's okay!" The ginger girl responded as she looked up at him, with a strange stare that seemed to give the sensation that this girl was both simultaneously not all there, but completely sane at the same time. She had yet to move a single muscle, even though she was lying flat on her back in the middle of a sidewalk.

"Uh... Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am perfectly fine!" And yet despite the assurance, Jaune doubted that she actually was.

"Do you want me to help you up?" He questioned, his hand still extended for her to grab onto.

She stared at it curiously for a moment before smiling once again. "Okay!" When she grabbed his hand, however, he had to fight the urge to yelp in sudden shock. This girls grip was crushing, and not only that she seemed to weigh a ton despite her small looking frame! She nearly brought him down on top of her with the amount of force needed to pull her up. But despite all the struggling, she didn't seem to notice at all. "Thank you very much for displaying such a kind gesture!"

"It's no problem..." Jaune rubbed his now sore hand for a moment before looking back up at the girl, who was now uncomfortably close to him.

"Oh my, did you hurt your hand?"

"No, no. It's alright." He lied, mostly just to get away from this girl sooner. He really needed to get back on track.

"I see. Then what about this?" The girl procured a piece of paper and showed it to him. "I'm unsure of whether or not this is litter, but since you dropped it I assume that it is yours?"

As the strange girl's eyes ran down the sheet of paper, they began to widen before she let out a sudden gasp. "Wolfbane?! Oh my!" And she scoot uncomfortably closer to Jaune once more. "Sir, Wolfbane is a very dangerous and illegal herb! You should stay away from it!"

"Woah, hold on." Jaune raised his hands up. "I'm not going to smoke it or anything! And it's not even for me, I swear!"

"Then that's even WORSE!" The ginger grabbed hold of his hand and began to squeeze, tightly. "You shouldn't buy such illegal things to sell to others!"

Jaune recoiled slightly when the girls grip tightened, and again when he stared into the girls big, puppy dog eyes. "I-I'm not, I swear!"

The ginger blinked a few times before she squeezed his hand even tighter, causing a sharp sting that made caused him to rip it from her iron grasp.

"OW!" Jaune yelped as he glanced down at his hand, a very small dot of blood dripping out of his index finger. "Did... did you just prick me with something?!"

The ginger recoiled slightly at his accusation. "N-no sir, I would never do something like that!" She let out a small hiccup as soon as she finished her sentence, something that seemed to come out of nowhere.

But something that was even stranger was the fact that the girl seemed to freeze up after a few seconds. Jaune gazed into her eyes and swore he saw an odd twinkling in them, one that seemed highly unnatural for such a person. Things got worse when he tried to snap some sense into her by waving his hand in front of her face.

"Hey, are you alright?"

The ginger snapped back into reality quickly, and nearly hopped away from him. "Y-yes sir. I-I'm fine. Uh, I apologize but something important just came up, and I must really be going now."

And almost as soon as she had appeared, she vanished. Jaune was certain that he had never seen a person speedwalk away from him with such a speed before in his entire life up until this point. Whatever had gotten that girl into a panic, he hoped that it wouldn't result in a bunch of police offers tailing him down and arresting him. That was the very last thing that he needed today.

With a sigh, Jaune glanced at the ground and noticed that the ginger had dropped his note in the confusion and picked it back up. Wolfbane was still his first objective, and the priority on getting it and getting back to Beacon with the rest of his ingredients was just bumped up a notch.

"Well, I guess my first stop is... ugh... Junior's." With a heavy sigh, Jaune quickly stalked off while wiping the blood on his finger away.

Hopefully that would be the most physical harm that would be inflicted on him today.

* * *

The atmosphere in Junior's Club was a bit more melancholy then Jaune remembered it being as he walked through the front doors.

In fact, parts of the building were under heavy construction. When he had been here last time, it was in a solid state and it was also pretty packed as well. But now it was almost as if he were looking at a shell of the club's former self.

He wasn't about to start asking about what happened though, because being nosy around these parts was a bad idea. The last time he had been here, he learned his lesson thanks to the club's owner, Junior.

Jaune still found it a bit narcissistic to name a club after yourself, but he couldn't deny that Junior had been very helpful in getting an audience with Roman Torchwick. The club was a frequent place for the criminal to do business apparently, and it was the same place where he had purchased his forged transcripts for Beacon. And now, Jaune needed the criminals help once again, much to his chagrin.

He quickly sauntered up to the bar, ignoring the odd stares from the strange twins that he had met the last time he had been there and immediately locked eyes with the bartender, who also happened to be the man that he needed to talk to.

Junior was a rather tall individual who wore a very trendy looking suit. A lot of the staff and rabble referred to him as a "Bear in a suit" when talking about him, and the man certainly gave off that description with his short, gruff black hair that seemed to bleed down the sides of his head into a rather fine, closely shaven beard. The constant look of annoyance on his face was also pretty helpful in aiding his intimidating appearance.

"Aren't you a little young to be at a club like this, kid?" Junior asked as he scoot over to Jaune. "Unless you've got an ID, you won't be getting any drinks."

"I'm not thirsty." Jaune responded, earning a pointed look from Junior. "I'm a bit lost, you see, and uh..." How did that blasted code go again? "...I need a torch to light my path."

Junior's pointed look soon morphed into one of visible confusion before he grit his teeth. "Guess you haven't been paying attention to the news lately, kid. Torches all fizzled out. Think you'll need a different light source for your path."

"Oh, is that so?" Jaune had been expecting this. Unfortunately, it just meant that he would need to use more of his precious savings. "In that case..." He quickly dipped his hand into his pocket and procured a small bundle of Lien wrapped up with a rubber band. With a small thud, he placed the bundle of cards on the table and slid them forward. "Think you can tell me where I can find one?"

Junior eyed the currency for a second before quickly accepting it. With a frustrated sigh, he quickly put the cash in his pocket before he picked up a nearby empty glass and began to polish it. "Yeah, think I can. Heard there might be an antique up on the second floor."

Jaune's face scrunched up in confusion. "Uh... what?"

Junior responded with another grunt of frustration and dropped the rag into the glass he was cleaning so he could use his free hand to rub at his eyes. "Just go upstairs, kid. You'll find what you're looking for."

With a quick nod, Jaune hopped off of his stool and quickly made his way towards the flight of stairs situated towards the back of the building. He had to briefly avert his gaze from the two twins who had yet again taken an interest in him. And the brief scowl that the one in white directed towards him as he turned his head away briefly reminded him of Weiss from team RSNN.

One quick trip up the stares and Jaune found himself looking down a very dark, depressing and slightly horrifying hallway. There were many doors situated along each side, and as he began to walk down the hall he briefly covered his ears when he heard a few moans coming from some of them.

He was there to pick up an illegal drug, he really didn't need to be scarred in other ways today.

As he came upon a door situated near the very end of the hallway, his ears picked up the sounds of a very heated argument. Despite the fact that it was an incredibly terrible idea to eavesdrop in shady turf, Jaune found his curiosity once again being the bane of his existence as he pressed an ear against the offending room's door.

"-and I'm telling YOU that the White Fang are crawling around everywhere! I can't exactly do my job when they aren't working for us anymore!" That was a voice that Jaune recognized well enough, for he had done business with the man once before. It was Roman Torchwick, alright.

But then another, feminine voice spoke out.

"If you can no longer do what I ask of you, then what use are you to me?"

"How can you ask that kind of question when we're supposed to be dead?! I can't exactly keep that charade up if everyone sees me robbing stores left and right!"

"Excuse me, normally I wouldn't side with him, but with the White Fang everywhere, he does have a point." A second female voice interrupted. "It's been hard enough for us to move around undetected as is, and given the fact that he's a total idiot, he'll definitely be caught if he tries anything."

There was silence for a few moments, a silence that Jaune could only describe as suffocating. But then the first female voice from before began to speak once again.

"Very well, then perhaps a change of plans are in order." There was a small hum. "Yes, with the growing threat of the White Fang drawing the attention of the law, surely other areas of the city will be... overlooked. I think we can use that to our advantage."

"That's just great. But what about all the dust that they stole from us, huh? I thought we needed that!"

"...I believe we may be able to reacquire our dust, and perhaps bring the White Fang to heel, so long as we simply wait and watch."

There was silence again before Roman spoke out once more. "Fine. But don't expect me to stop all my other plans just because I'm supposed to be singing with the choir invisible."

Jaune continued to listen with piqued curiosity. Roman was supposed to be dead? Did this have anything to do with what happened at the docks? He had heard rumors of Roman Torchwick being there at the scene of the crime and getting attacked by the White Fang, but there was nothing about him dying anywhere in the news.

And just as he was about to get to the good part, he was interrupted.

Or rather, someone grabbed the collar of his shirt and threw him up against the wall opposite of the door. And with a quiet "click" he heard the sound of a knife being unsheathed, with the tip of the blade poking him in his throat. He had to resist the urge to cry out, since doing so would most likely lead to execution on the spot.

"I-I..." He began to whisper before pausing mid sentence. His eyes darted around for a few seconds, trying to look into whoever was holding him's own pair. But instead, there was nothing. At least, not until the tip of the blade poked him once more and forced him to look down.

There, he saw a most peculiar sight. A girl that was almost half his size, with hair that seemed to shift from brown to pink to white, her eyes both following her hairs example with their color coding swapping each time she blinked. This girl was holding him up against the wall with nothing but an umbrella that happened to have a pointed blade on the end, and the half-scowl half-smirk she wore on her face informed him that she could easily kill him if he didn't start talking.

"I'm here to buy something from Roman!" Jaune whispered out, trying not to swallow in fear and risk the blade puncturing his throat.

The girl stared at him for a few moments, her eyebrow raising in curiosity before took her free hand and placed it up to her ear, as if she were listening for something. The two of them stared at each other in silence, the girl's positioning not changing until suddenly, with a disgruntled sigh, she removed her hand from her ear and pointed to him before placing it back.

"Oh!" Jaune yelped as the blade poked his throat once more. "I-I heard yelling and thought someone might have been getting hurt." It was a lie, but hopefully he looked innocent and stupid enough for this girl to buy it.

The girl took her hand away from her ear and looked him up and down for a few seconds before rolling her eyes and pulling her blade away from his entirely. With a quiet click the blade vanished back into the parasol, all the while Jaune had to resist the urge to slump to the floor in relief. But his relief was cut short when he looked down at this murderous girl's tapping foot, which forced him to look up at her rather impatient looking face.

It took him a moment to figure out what she was waiting for. "Uh... Wolfbane. Is there any around?"

The girl sized him up once more, her eyebrow raising just a little bit hire. It certainly didn't make him feel very good about himself. Placing a finger up to her chin, the girl thought for a few seconds before giving him a nod. She also extended her hand as if she were waiting for something.

It took Jaune a few moments, along with an impatient glare, to get him to realize that she was expecting the payment first. "...Uh... How much?" He winced when she held up two fingers. That was very expensive, but if it meant saving his friend, he would pay it.

Once he had paid, the girl turned to enter the door before stopping dead in her tracks. She quickly snapped back around and pointed a finger at him, then towards the wall he had previously been pinned against. It didn't take rocket science to understand that he was not to move from that spot, and once he had shown his understanding of that, the girl finally entered the room he had just been eavesdropping on without so much as a knock.

Jaune didn't even bother trying to eavesdrop once more, now that his presence was most likely known to all parties inside the room. And he didn't exactly want to end up dead before he could try and cure Ruby of her newfound lycanthropy. So he simply waited for the strange multi-colored girl to reemerge from the room once again.

And reemerge she did, only instead of opening the door she seemingly shimmered into existence in front of him. The action nearly gave him a heart attack as he pinned himself to the wall once more, earning a smug smile from his "dealer."

And with one quick toss, Jaune found himself catching a vial of powder. He glanced at it curiously before opening the vial up. With one quick whiff, the pungent odor that assaulted his nostrils confirmed that he had been given powdered Wolfbane. He wasn't even going to question why it was given to him powdered, it saved him the trouble of having to do that himself.

"Uh... thanks?"

The terrifying girl gave him another smug smile before she vanished into nothing once again, something that scared him even more.

And although Jaune tried to keep his cool as he quickly walked out of the building, he knew for a fact that he was probably shaking all the way.

But at least he had the hardest part done. The rest would surely be smooth sailing.

* * *

Jaune sighed as he glanced down at the blue shopping bag he had been carrying. He had successfully gathered everything that he had needed to forge a potential cure, minus the ingredients he would need from himself. And now, he found himself at the shipyard that was in ruins two weeks ago.

This was his final stop, and with no injuries from his prior ones, Jaune was feeling unusually confident in himself. At least, as confident as he could feel given the fact that he was finally realizing how right his father had been. If he had never left Mistral, none of this would have happened. And while that meant he would have given up on his dream, and never met his friends, at least they would have been safe.

And he had absolutely no idea what he was going to say to his parents. Especially not his father.

That was something to roll around in his head while he was on his way home, however. And that was exactly why he was at the shipyard now. There were no boats going to Mistral today, but there just so happened to be one heading out early tomorrow morning. That gave him the perfect amount of time to try and cure Ruby, then leave as soon as he had confirmation that she was alright.

Now he needed to only buy his ticket and haul himself back to Beacon, ASAP. And the ticket seller was in a small booth near what he assumed was the ship that would take him back home.

But before he could even walk up to the booth, he felt a hand firmly grapple the hoodie part of his jacket, and with a firm tug he was yanked backwards. Once his reflexes kicked in, he immediately spun around to face his assailant. "Hey, what's the big idea-"

Jaune felt a pang of fear travel up his spine as he was now facing down the receiving end of a particularly nasty glare from Blake Belladonna, his raven-haired teammate looking as if she wanted to kill him.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Jaune gulped nervously as he took a step back. "I uh, I was just, y'know, passing by?" The look on Blake's face clearly stated that she did not believe him. But regardless, he still attempted to diffuse the situation. "So uh, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to find out why you're leaving Vale."

"What?" He was certainly confused. There was no way she would be able to know about his plans. "No I'm not."

"Then explain this note I found!" Blake whipped the piece of paper out and shoved it into his face. "It clearly states that you are leaving and never coming back, and unless I need reading glasses, that name down at the bottom is signed Jaune Arc!"

Jaune stared at the note, his note, in complete confusion. "Wh-where did you even get that?"

"It was sitting on your bed." Blake answered as she crumpled the note up and tossed it into the nearest trash can, earning a protest from Jaune.

"Hey! I spent a long time writing that!" But her answer wasn't one that he could believe. "And there's no way you could have gotten that from my bed, it wasn't even ON my bed!"

Blake's eyebrow raised as her head tilted to the side slightly. "Then explain why it was sitting on your pillow?"

Jaune gulped as he experienced a flashback of sorts. He had been in such a rush that he had actually forgotten to hide his note inside of his drawer. "You... you weren't supposed to see that until-"

"After you were gone, I know." Blake interrupted as she placed a hand on her forehead and rubbed it. "So let's cut to the chase. Why are you leaving?"

Jaune bit his lower lip and turned his face away from hers. "Why do you even care?"

"I care because I'm your tea-" She caught herself mid sentence. "Friend. Because I'm your friend, Jaune, and I care about you."

"You didn't care about me or anyone else at first."

"That's..." She couldn't really lie to him about something like this. She had already admitted it to herself that she had only come to Beacon to learn, not to make friends. "That's true. I didn't. But now I do. So tell me."

"I can't tell you." Jaune sighed, searching for a way to get her to accept that he was leaving. "You wouldn't understand. It's... a... a Faunus thing."

"A Faunus thing?" Blake repeated back to him. "Really? Is that your shoddy excuse?"

Jaune's face snapped back to hers in shock before his nostrils flared a bit. "Shoddy excuse? You don't know anything about me, Blake! Maybe to you it's a shoddy excuse but Faunus-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Blake's arm shot out and grappled his. With great strength that he didn't expect her to have, she began dragging him towards a particularly seedy looking alley. And despite his protests and struggles, he found it much more difficult to break out of her grip then he would have expected. In the back of his head, he figured he must look completely pathetic right now.

"It IS a shoddy excuse, Jaune. Because I know you're lying to me." Blake shoved him up against the brick wall rather forcefully before taking a step back. "This has nothing to do with being a Faunus! You've never made a big deal about being a Faunus!"

"I'm making a big deal about it now because... because..." He found himself scrambling around his brain for a reason as to why it was a sudden problem, but he couldn't. "Because I'm all alone, Blake." He sighed. "There's nobody on that campus who can ever hope to relate to my problems. Because..."

The sharp glare that he was getting from her informed him that it would be best to tell the truth.

"Alright fine... the truth." He had to tell it in a way that wouldn't expose him for what he was, though. "I've done horrible things, Blake. Things that I can't just fix."

"You're wrong."

Jaune glanced up at Blake, her adamance on the issue being strange. "How would you know? You've never done anything bad to anyone. You've never hurt people on accident, thinking that you've had everything under control. You don't know ANYTHING about what that's like, Blake."

Blake's cheeks seemed to heat up as her face scrunched in annoyance. "I know more than you think I do, Jaune." Her hand slowly began to reach up towards her head. "Do you remember last night? When I confronted you in the hall?"

Jaune nodded, despite the night being mostly blurry. The only details he could vividly remember now were the unspeakable acts of violence he had committed in his monstrous lycan form. But he did remember Blake pulling him aside, then chasing after him as he sprinted out into the forest.

Blake paused as her hand gripped her bow, her face becoming more volatile as she shut her eyes. "This is what I was trying to show you." And with one single, hard yank, her ribbon was torn from her head. For a moment, her ears were tangled and pulled by the fabric, but the pain soon subsided as they were freed from the wrappings for the world to see.

Jaune found himself at a loss for words as he stared up at his friends head. Black cat ears wiggled in the air as their owner fidgeted under his gaze. Blake had been a Faunus the entire time, and he hadn't known about it. "Blake... I... didn't know..."

"I know you didn't. Nobody did." She sighed. "And nobody was supposed to know, either."

"But... Why?"

"I have my reasons." She began to idly rub at her arm. "You should know by now that Faunus aren't treated as equals."

"...Well, yeah... But hiding a piece of who you are? Blake, you shouldn't go to such extremes." Jaune briefly pondered if he was being a hypocrite, but that was interrupted by an even angrier Blake.

"How can you say that when you were the victim of prejudice? Do you think Cardin called you a 'mutt' and a 'animal' because they were random nicknames?"

"That was CARDIN though, he's a jerk to everyone. Even other humans."

Blake folded her arms and turned her head away. "Even still, I have more important reasons to hide my identity."

Normally, Jaune would need to poke and prod in order to get a clear answer from Blake. But for once, his brain had a moment of clarity as his mind traveled back to the night at the docks. It had been nearly three weeks since then, but there was one key event that stood out. When the White Fang Lieutenant appeared, he spoke to Blake as if he had known her. And he said something about reuniting her with someone she had known.

"...Does it have something to do with the White Fang?"

The expression of shock on Blake's face seemed to confirm that his statement had hit home. "I'm... honestly shocked that it took you this long to ask that question." She brushed a bit of hair away from her face. "After all, you were there when the Lieutenant spoke. And you didn't even question anything he said... or the fact that I knew his code-name."

Jaune coughed into his hand. "So does that mean it does have to do with them?"

Blake sighed, folding her arms across her chest as she stared at the ground. "I don't really want to say."

"That's fine. We all have our-" Jaune found himself interrupted when Blake suddenly closed the distance between the two of them, pressing him up against the wall further. It was certainly something that he hadn't expected, and it made the blood rush to his face.

"I don't want to say it, but I feel as if I have to. It's the only way you'll understand."

Jaune blinked a few times. "I'm not following you."

"You said that I know nothing about hurting people, or about making mistakes that you can't just fix." Blake took another deep breath. "I know everything about that, Jaune."

"I was in the White Fang."

"...You were... in the White Fang?"

"Yes." Blake finally backed away from him a little, giving them both some breathing room. "I was practically born into the White Fang. And I was one of the many Faunus who took action. I was at every protest and every rally. I never resorted to violence, because I always thought that violence wasn't the answer." She sighed. "Unfortunately, the humans didn't see things the same way."

Jaune felt his hand going up to his mouth. "You weren't... hurt, were you?"

"Do you really think the law enforcement cared about age, Jaune?"

He winced a little at the bite in her comment. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. As the humans responded to our protests with more and more violence, we began to fight back in spades. And eventually, it got to the point where I was... very good at my job." Blake grit her teeth as she stared back towards the ground, her head hanging low. "For once in my life, despite the fact that I had to resort to violence, I felt like we were doing something. That we were making an actual impact. And for awhile, it worked. We got the respect we finally deserved."

"For awhile? Does that mean the humans went back to retaliating?"

"In a way, yes. The respect we earned wasn't as legitimate as most would believe. It wasn't garnered from understanding or wanting to be equal, it was garnered by fear. Fear that we would wage war." Blake glanced back up at him, emotions swirling in her eyes. But the one that he could pick out in particular was one that he knew all too well, regret.

"I was also referring to myself when I said that it worked for awhile." Blake began to slowly pace back in forth in front of him as she spoke, "I began to realize that the White Fang was changing. They were becoming more violent, and they were more eager to take lives whenever possible. They had become bloodthirsty, and I wasn't going to stay and risk turning into something like that. So I left, and came to Beacon."

There was a moment of silence that allowed Jaune to absorb all the information that he had heard. Though, he was almost certain that he had gotten an abridged version of the story. "Well, Blake... I'm sorry for what you had to go through."

"Don't be. The only thing that matters now is that you're not alone like you think you are."

Jaune smiled, but it was an empty smile, devoid of real emotion. "I'm sorry, Blake. But you just wouldn't understand."

Blake almost immediately threw her arms to her sides. "Are you kidding me, Jaune?!" She couldn't believe this! Even after everything she had told him, he still wouldn't trust her! "You can't say things like that if you aren't going to explain yourself! I want to help you, like you helped me!"

Jaune shifted nervously, rubbing the back of his neck as he did so. "Blake, you can't help me. And I can't tell you anything, either. First, you probably wouldn't even believe me, and second... I'm... well, I'm a-"

"Hostile lifeform that must be eliminated!"

Both Jaune and Blake turned towards the alley's entrance only to find a girl swiftly walking towards them. Jaune almost immediately recognized her as the ginger from hours earlier, the one who had crushed his hand and became skittish afterwards.

"It's you!" Jaune exclaimed as he pointed at her. "...Have you been following me?"

Blake turned to him, her eyes widening. "You know this girl?"

"Not really, I bumped into her earlier today and she was acting really skittish before she ran off."

Blake turned back towards the girl who was now glaring daggers at Jaune. Or at least, that's what she was trying to do. She certainly seemed to be having trouble making up her mind on whether or not she was trying to look intimidating or scared.

"What do you mean when you say that my friend is a 'hostile lifeform' that needs to be eliminated?"

The ginger waved an arm at Blake, almost in a dismissive manner. "Miss, I advise that you clear this area as soon as possible. This man has a deadly and very contagious disease!"

Blake's eyebrow raised a little as she gave the ginger a deadpan look of disbelief. "...What?"

"No!" Jaune instinctively took a few steps back. "No I don't have a disease! I'm just some Faunus who's trying to be a Huntsman!"

"You are a liar! You are neither Faunus nor Human!" The ginger girl pointed defiantly at him as she spoke. "I took a sample of your blood earlier today, fearing that you may be a poor soul addicted to illegal substances, but the tests I put your blood through show that you are far more dangerous then I originally thought!"

"I... I'm not, I'm..."

Blake stepped forward, glancing between the two of them. She had absolutely no idea what was going on, but if he wouldn't give her answers, perhaps this new girl would "What exactly IS he, then?"

"This man is infected with 'Lykanthropiosus,' otherwise known as Lycanthropy!" As the ginger gave her explanation, the sound of a hatch opening rang out in the alley, along with the sounds of metal slicing against metal.

"Lycanthropy...?" Blake's jaw fell open as she turned to Jaune, who was continuing to back way while shivering. The same pale look that she had seen earlier that day in the medical wing was firmly plastered on his face.

She had read about Lycanthropy in story books, but now she was suddenly being told that it was real? "So you're saying that Jaune is..."

"That is correct!" The ginger finished Blake's sentence as an array of deadly looking swords burst forth from her back before they began to hang in the air around her. "This man is a Lycanthrope disguised as a human!"

"And for the safety of Vale, he MUST be eliminated!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

I'd like to apologize for this chapter being two days late. Not only was I sick, but I also went to see Logan on the day that the chapter was supposed to be released (Great movie by the way.) and I had completely forgotten about it.

To make up for it, this chapter is a little longer then most, and as you can see there is a lot going on.  
You can also probably see that I suck at making up fake disease names, but this is the only time you're going to hear it called that so I'm sure you'll all survive.

Again, I apologize and hope that you will all enjoy this chapter, I've really been looking at this fic in depth lately and I have been questioning myself on where it's going on how I plan on getting it there, and while I have a much clearer answer before, I am still rather unsure of this fic in general.

That doesn't mean I'm going to just drop it, but I may take a break from it and work on another one of my fics that has been on hiatus for quite some time. If this does happen, then you will most certainly be informed of this within the next few chapters.

Bad news aside, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter, and I thank you for continuing to read my work and enjoy it.


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